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Impact of music in society
Impact of music in society
Impact of music in society
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The essay I read suggested that people of low intelligence/class (i.e. teenagers) use “junk” music to try and drown out their supposedly harsh reality. The author also suggests that the more intelligent people in the world do not listen to loud music because the decibel level at which you listen to music somehow indicates your intelligence. I cannot agree with that statement because I have talked to my friends and aquaintences and they told me that music helps to lift their spirits and some even said that music helps them to cope with their reality. In addition, studies have shown that some people who listen to music while they study actually do better on the test the next day, because the music relaxes them. In the aforementioned essay, the author also mentions the “two slack-jawed young assistants.” This was quite obviously stating that the repairmen were of lower social standing, and that the “junk” music they were “blasting” was emphasizing their low class.
The author continues on to mention “elevator music” and how it is alright to play it in factories and restaurants so that the personnell do not fall asleep or “brood on the essential monotony of their jobs.” I thought that the whole point of the essay was to complain about low class people trying to escape reality through music, and then he contradicts himself. He also said (essentially) that the young workers had no interest in the serene setting in which they were working, and the same goes for all low-class people. I find that laughable, as some of the greatest painters and artists, poets and writers were lower class citizens in their time. He states his opinion that people play such “junk” music not to bring something in, but to shut things out. Supposedly, people do not want to hear the music for sheer enjoyment, but rather we use it as a narcotic of sorts, blocking out reality and dispelling the thought-provoking silence that accosts us when we are alone.
The author continues to get off topic by mentioning society’s so-called “televsion addiction”, the “sports mania”, and the “intense prioccupation with trivia”, which according to the author, which are all supposed factors in creating the vacuum that makes up people’s (mostly teenagers’) heads. Mr. Harris concludes with the statement, “…this great gift has been turned against itself, creating a cacophony to dull and deaden and dehumanize the soul.
Teenagers have for long been a constant bother to many parents, for many years. It is during this stage that a large number of individuals engage in rebellious acts and are anxious to try out almost everything they lay their hands on. It is clear from the illustrations that music does have a great effect on teenagers. Parents should therefore combine effort in instilling a sense of responsibility and good morals to their young ones since they are the future leaders of the world.
In Amusing Ourselves to Death, Neil Postman alerts us to the dangers brought about by the way television conditions us to tolerate the brevity of visual entertainment. His message is that with each new technological medium introduced, there is a significant trade-off. His primary example was the medium of television. TV is structured to provide information to the viewer on a platform which is both quick and entertaining. This discourages any viewer subjectivity, allowing television to shape and dictate [politics, education, religion, and journalism] the essence of our discourse. Except for a few pages of "enlightenment", the entire book was a conglomerated resource of evidence to support his hypothesis. Important facts underlined generalizations to present logical and agreeable viewpoints.(e.g. "Television is our culture's principle mode of knowing about itself. Therefore... how television stages the world becomes the model for how the world is properly to be staged..."( Postman 92) In other words, how life is depicted on television is how we expect life to be.) And in most cases some truth could be found in Postman's statements (e.g. "For no medium is excessively dangerous if its users understand what its dangers are.") (Postman161) Postman's final critical point was not merely enlightenment, but was a message to his reader and a solution aimed at educators: "the point I am trying to make is that only through a deep and unfailing awareness of the structure and effects of information, through a Bibbs 2 demystification of media, is there any hope of our gaining some measure of control over television , or the computer, or any other medium." (Postman 161) I agree. Until we begin to quest...
It has been discussed that the more intellectually advanced a person is, the more likely they are to be unhappy or clinically depressed and seek solace in heavy metal or another branch of rock music (Unhappy). For a product, many highly, intelligent people, whose social development progresses much slower than that of most people, have trouble coping with the stress of life that present themselves to everyone. This inevitably induces these individuals to seek refuge in music situations where knowledge and skills support their experience. They go through the tough times alone because adults tend to believe that the intelligent group of children can deal with anything because they are intellectually superior. Adults don't understand that they need assistance. Ernest Hemingway, author and journalist, is an example of this (Unhappy). He took his own life in 1961; he knew of both intelligence and of unh...
In Postman’s novel, we are given the overall thesis with the following phrase: “we are a people on the verge of amusing ourselves to death” (4). It is through this former phrase that Postman is able to convey his critical analysis of the media environment in 1985. His critical analysis revolves around television; he conveys how this technology has altered the way in which Americans think and carry out their daily life. He goes on further to explain how television has reshaped epistemology and has led for Americans to expect some form of “entertainment” from each sector of society. In other words, the way in which we knew something as truth, or acquired knowledge from, has been altered due to television while simultaneously causing for Americans to expect politics, religion, education, and news (just to name a few) to be “entertaining.”
In the beginning the article poses the question, does music make you smarter? Early on there is evidence why people might think music would make someone smarter, but then Mehr proceeds to say, “That is a misguided assumption. Correlation does not imply causation. These associations do not establish, as many people believe, that music makes you smarter” (Mehr). He states that there are some logical reasons music could possibly make someone smarter, but Mehr thinks there is no proof that music can actually make someone smarter and more prosperous in school. Although the result of playing or listening to music does not make one smarter, Mehr thinks music is crucial for the growth of an individual because it puts joy in a person’s
It is difficult to show the effects of music on the individual, but it is easy to see how the individual chooses genres of music based on mood. The soldiers in Iraq, for instance, listened to a song by the band Drowning Pool titled, “Let the Bodies Hit the Floor,” over the speakers in their tanks. After listening to the song it would be easy to see that they didn’t just choose the song because they thought it pertained to their current situation. The song is loud, fast, and hard. The song fueled the soldiers. I don’t think that it made them into bloodthirsty savages, but I do think that it pumped them up with adrenaline. Walk into any random Gold’s Gym and I’m sure you will not hear classical or new age music, but instead some sort of rock. David in the Bible played music to soothe Saul. Due to David’s harp and voice Saul calmed down and fell asleep. This is present even in today’s society. After work, school, or any other long, exhausting event, it isn’t uncommon for people to go home and put on some soothing music in order to cure them of their horrible day.
The youth of today would benefit greatly from less violent music blasting in their ears. This has been proven by researchers at Iowa and the Texas Department of Human Services in Austin. They held a series of five experiments, involving over 500 college students that examined the effects of different music. They took seven violent songs by seven artists and eight nonviolent songs by seven artists. All of the students received the same songs to listen to. As they were listening they were asked to do some psychological tests. This helped researchers be able to measure any aggressive thoughts or feelings the participants had during the experiment. Some of the tests included classifying words that can hold both an aggressive and non-aggressive meaning, such as rock and stick. The results of the experiment were amazing. It showed that the violent songs led the participants to more violent words. It also increased one of two things. The first being the relative speed with how people read aggressive and non-aggressive words and the second being the proportion of word fragments. For example, the fragment h_t, was filled with an aggressive word such as hit.
Contrary to many assumptions, modern youth is not protected enough from harmful music, even though ther...
The idea that music leads its listeners to participate in deviant acts can be left up to each individual’s opinion. The truth is, is that there is not sufficient research to prove or disprove whether music has a strong influence, if any, on the listener’s choices to engage in deviant behaviors. One thing for certain is that music can influence a population’s appearance and culture. Whether or not music causes listeners to be deviant, music will continue to be produced and played around the world.
It is true that music has a compact link to our emotions. Music assists people to overcome the bad situations in their life, just like it did for Sonny, the barmaid, or some other people in the Harlem. Music has a tremendous effect on people’s mind because it makes them feel relax and comfortable, especially the soft classical music. It helps distressed people to stay smooth and peaceful. In fact, music is a remarkable way to ease our stress.
to society and makes them feel good and at the same time depressed. The music
There have always been discussions of the effects music has on ones behavior, and how it’s related to Psychology. The truth has never really been verified among common knowledge, but it’s usually something that intrigues people. They say heavy metal and rap can make teenagers violent, sad and depressing music can make teenagers sad and depressed, and some say it’s best to listen to classical music when doing schoolwork because it makes your brain more active. There have been many people that reported how music has effects on their behavior. It can lift their mood, “fuel the fire” when they’re angry, or even make it easier for them to fall asleep. People never really get the chance to research the actual science of music, and how it changes people attitudes.
Many theories on how music can affect teens have been made, such as: Reflection rejection, drive reduction, and excitation-transfer. Reflection rejection suggest that music is only looked upon, or into in this case, as a mirror of a teen’s life. (Gardstrom 2). It suggest that music does not create emotions, feelings, or even a personality that does not initially exist. This theory challenges people to believe that music to teens are nothing but a mere diary of who they are and that negative behavior does not come from music but from the teen. Anything negative was created from within, whereas the teen ultimately chooses what they consume through their ears which is soon planted into their brain. Music does not determine behavior, instead inner characteristi...
Steven Johnson (2006), author of Everything Bad is Good for You: How Today’s Popular Culture Is Actually Making Us Smarter, argued against the consensus amongst the general population saying, “The most debased forms of mass diversion--video games and violent television dramas and juvenile sitcom-- turn out to be nutritional after all. For decades, we’ve worked under the assumption that mass culture follows a steadily declining path toward lowest-common-denominator standards, presumably because the ‘masses’ want dumb, simple pleasures and big media companies want to give the masses what they want. But in fact, the opposite is happening: the culture is getting more intellectually demanding, not less.” (pg. 9) It is imperative to understand that people do not like new things because it changes what is already known, and that when new mediums become popular they are liable to be compared to the previous medium. Take books for example, there are many studies published that conclude that reading is good for the brain; that reading not only provides information but that-- because of the concentration required to focus on text for extended periods of time and the stimulation in the areas of
Music has incredible effects on the brain and body! Ever since the beginning of time, music has been around. It can influence the way a person thinks and behaves, and also social interactions. Teens are more susceptible to this (Revatto 1). Music can be used in therapy by helping people with depression, and can even be a more natural way to heal the body (“How Music...” 1). In some cases, songs and melodies can help or make diseases worse. Music is a powerful thing and can affect your brain and many other things in your body in numerous ways.