Students’ Views on Music These Days

According to altpress.com, the average American listens to four hours of music a day.  In 2016, 2,100,000 people own a smartphone, which has access to music.

“Involving 36,000 people, 60 countries and three years of work. He asked each participant to rank their favorite genres of music. He discovered that the most common characteristic among all genre listeners was creativity. However, one group of listeners showed a genuine and significant lack of creativity: pop music lovers … just that pop trains us to expect less from our artistic and creative lives… when a mega-industry is devoted to selling the least inspired music they can, they’re short-changing all of us. A survey of other research on music reveals that pop music has gotten worse over the last 50 years. Not only that, it’s been used to brainwash listeners through predatory marketing strategies across all media channels.” said MicNetwork,

The MicNetwork is an incorporation that believes that millennials are inquisitive, have a healthy skepticism for conventional wisdom, and crave a substantive news to spark.

That is how MicNetwork explained how pop music is “literally ruining our brains.”

“Music does affect human behavior. Upbeat, sad, cynical, angry, or joyful music can all easily change your mood to match it. I would expect that that is because your thoughts become preoccupied with ideas matching those in the song. You begin thinking about those things, and they affect your current mood and emotions. The kind of music you listen to definitely affects you…Prolonged listening to a certain genre can affect your general mood and even personality in the same way it affects your emotions…Most Christian music makes me happy, joyful, and excited. Christian rap does the same…Christian, because most pop music is negative or contains vulgarity/immorality. Pop music negatively affects teens. Pop music only reinforces the usually bad examples set in most TV shows. Vulgarity, immorality, violence, drugs, and, in many cases, misogyny, by reinforcing stereotypes and expectations of women set by the culture…The music encourages girls to act like the women in the lyrics, which often includes promiscuity, immodesty, and other vices. For guys, it often encourages misogyny, drugs, and violence, among other things. Most rap is worse than general pop, with a high quantity of drugs, violence, and sexism. Classical is healthy. It is a history lesson wrapped up in good sound. Christian music, while often very preachy, is positive and uplifting in general,” said Jeremy Zabel, a sophomore at Arrowhead Union High School.

According to livestrong.com, pop music is a concern for teens because it can have a  negative influence. Recent American pop songs include references to sex, drugs, alcohol, or violence. Multiple songs also shine the light on rebellion against authority and the “degradation of women or self-destructive behaviors,” said livestrong.

While some songs can uplift teens, others can cause anger, depression, or poor behavior. PBS Parents suggest parents to dissect the meaning of the song instead of consuming it.

“Music can make you feel any certain way depending on the genre or the lyrics or many different other things. Music affects how they feel about certain things, how they act, and how they look at the world…I think pop music affects half positively and half negatively on teens. It usually is positive, but is always about love and makes people think you need love to be happy. It affects teens because it makes them think that love is the only thing that matters. Hip-hop sexualizes women and men. Country talks a lot about drinking and tractors,” said Alexis Nyren, a sophomore at Arrowhead.

“I know that when I am angry I listen to Christian music and it can change my mood almost instantly. Mainly it is the message, but also music always just relieves my stress. For one, there is a direct correlation to kids who grow up listening to the inappropriate contemporary music and kids who make poor decisions early on. I think that messages are more easily ingrained in our minds through music for some reason. While I am doing work, I just listen to the sound…I think each genre corresponds to a mood that I am in. For instance, I listen to rap when I am angry, alternative when I am calm, or Christian music when I am sad. Christian music because it makes me feel good and I like the empowering lyrics. I do not listen to it significantly more than other genres. Pop affects teens negatively. It contains inappropriate messages that we should not be focusing on at this age. It affects teens by causing them to view partying and alcohol as normal. I think it is the same way because they have the same messages. Not necessarily because I think that people generally listen to Hip-hop for the sound and do not really listen to the lyrics. It affects them in a positive way because there are countless studies indicating that classical music enhances brain activity and helps the brain recognize patterns better. It affects us in a positive way because the songs have upright, powerful messages. Country does not have a huge impact because the themes are neither bad nor particularly good. They are always just about having a good time,” said Maria Turco, a junior at Arrowhead.

“Music definitely affects human behavior and emotions. It plays a big role in human lives in so many ways. Music draws people’s emotions by making them feel something based on the lyrics and beat of the song, therefore affecting their behavior and maybe even inspiring them. I believe music affects people greatly due to its ability to release different feelings – both sad and happy,” said Tessa Quadracci, a senior at Arrowhead.