By Bryan Reed
I hear a lot of music. I don’t listen to nearly as much.
There’s an important distinction to be made in how we consume audio that, I presume, has existed as long as there has been recorded music to listen to. I have a hard time buying into the theory that before there were mp3s, or even CDs that everyone just sat down at 40-minute stretches to listen to and absorb albums completely.
I have a hard time buying that theory because I listen to vinyl, and my listening habits still mostly consist of pressing play, and then doing something else while I listen. Often, I don’t make it to the B-side. My enjoyment isn’t diminished. I just get distracted.
Some would probably label me a heretic for admitting that I don’t often dedicate the time to close listening. Sometimes, sure. But often, not.
I will admit that the computer exacerbates this habit. With a tangible format, be it a record or a CD, there’s more involved in shuffling between albums and artists. On the computer, it’s hard to make it through a whole song before finding another one that catches my eye.
I feel kind of bad about it, too. Like I’m not giving enough attention to the music just because it’s so easy to flutter back and forth among any of the thousands of songs I have catalogued on my hard drive. I’ve got thousands of CDs, and they all play start to finish when I put them on.
The difference in the listening experience is real. Physical media encourages more thorough listening, but not completely thorough listening.
Whether I’m getting a snack, or folding laundry or reading a book, there’s always music on. And I hear it. But, if I’m being honest, at those times, I’m not really listening.
Vinyl collectors like to wax nostalgic about the days when listening to music was an end in itself. And I like to think that sometimes it still is. But I also think it’s unreasonable to expect that the only factor in whether somebody is listening or hearing is a matter of format.
What nobody seems to be able to settle on, is does it even matter?
image via Wikimeda Commons
I don't think it has much to do with the recorded medium (vinyl, CD, mp3, etc) but is more of a commentary on our current societal impulses: we are ALWAYS multi-tasking, and we like to have background noise when we do that.
I say this non-judgmentally. Personally, I prefer to have the TV on as “background noise” because I get sucked into music too easily and am less able to concentrate on the three things I'm working on simultaneously. I've also found that I want to continue to enjoy and really listen to music, so when I do take the time for it–it is usually my primary/secondary focus, I try to intentionally not hear it when I cannot fully listen to it. I don't want to train my brain to go into “hearing” instead of “listening” mode.
It does worry me though that we are losing the ability to NOT multi-task. To be focused completely on one thing, to be “fully present” in a particular moment without being distracted by the cacophony of thoughts and stimuli surrounding us. I think this is making our existence more…frenetic. Less healthy, less whole. I worry that I've already lost that ability to be singularly-minded–and I don't think regaining it will be an easy task.
I find that it disrupts my sleep patterns [how can I learn to relax and rest when I'm used to entertaining the myriad of thoughts bouncing around inside my brain?] and especially my relationships [how can I get to know someone if I am merely hearing their words...and not REALLY listening?] How can I even write a sentence without being interrupted by parenthetical thoughts? =]
Or, perhaps I just have ADD/ADHD, and this inability to focus isn't part of our culture, but I'm making my personal experience into a common one. I'm not convinced that this is the case; it seems to be a reality for many of the people I'm in contact with on a regular basis–especially those of TNGG.