Eve Kagami, Class III
Photo Credit: Pexels
The truth is, after long hours of school, then potential extracurriculars, and then a pile of homework on top of that, our brains start to hurt. We run out of stamina physically and mentally, and we just want something that can replenish our energy and allow us to forget about the stress of being a student for a moment — and that something could be listening to music.
Many researchers online concluded that 60% to 75% of teenagers listen to music while studying. To further verify the statistics, I decided to ask 50 random sophomores at The Brooklyn Latin School whether they listened to music while doing their homework: 27 discipuli said yes, 23 said no.
In other words, 54% listened to music, 46% didn’t.
As the two percentages were closer than I expected, I decided to ask 20 students the reason why they listened to music, or why they didn’t.
10 students who said yes said similar things: “It’s soothing and it makes me forget I’m stressed about my homework. Sometimes I even start to enjoy it.”
10 students who said no said similar things as well: “It’s distracting. Why would I want lyrics blasting in my ear when I’m trying to read 1984?”
Then, I decided to ask the 27 students who said yes what kind of music they listened to while studying.
45% listen to classical / instrumental
17% listen to hip hop
15% listen to rap
13% listen to rock
10% listen to jazz
From the data, it could be concluded that the majority listened to songs that didn’t have lyrics in them. This was interesting because the data made it clearer as to why many might enjoy studying while it is not distracting. While this article only covers the experiences of sophomores, it can be inferred that other age groups’ data will vary greatly as well.
Playing music while studying isn’t a scientific, statistical fact — it is a personal preference.
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