Education and Learning: Does music affect you when you are working?

Note: The following article was written by Ritesh Arunkumar 9F.

When you are doing chores around the house or doing your homework, most people listen to music, but does this affect the efficiency or the quality of your work?

Focus - When you are working on an important project and you are listening to music, your mind may switch focus between the work and the music, which can affect you. However, studies from Oxford University show that around 13% of people work better when happy, and listening to music raises your dopamine, which means that you could be more productive.

Type of music - If you are working on a piece of homework and listen to heavy metal music at a loud volume, you are more likely to get distracted compared to melodic music or pop music at a lower volume. Calmer and quieter music is more likely to help you concentrate while also allowing you to listen to some good music to calm yourself down.

Changes your perspective on the activity - If you are doing a piece of work that you find really boring, music might help you get more motivated to do that piece of work and might make it seem more fun than before, which may cause you to do better work than you would have otherwise produced. This means you can finally finish that homework that you left for ages, knowing you would not like doing it, but still enjoy it in a way.

Thinking - When you are on a train of thought but you are listening to music, it is easy to forget what you were thinking about. After a long time, this will get tiring and very annoying, which can affect the quality of your work and how good your ideas are, as well as how good they could have been if you could remember what you were thinking about.

Type of tasks - If you are working on a task that is quite easy, you can listen to your favourite music, however loud it may be, as you do not require as much focus as you might need for revision the day before an exam. In that case, you would like to focus so that you retain the information you are studying.

Concentration - Music can both help you concentrate and distract you, as sudden changes or variations in music can take your focus away. However, listening to music can also block outside distractions, like cars or kitchen sounds, which can help you avoid being abruptly interrupted by them. Overall, though, it is more likely to distract you than help you concentrate.

Conclusion - Listening to music while working is up to personal choice and preference. Some people cannot concentrate at all with music, but others can concentrate a lot better with it. Overall, music can distract you and reduce your efficiency and the quality of your project, but it can also help you concentrate, become calmer and work on some projects you normally would not enjoy doing.