Letting music become an obsession

[Ħ]

Recently I've noticed how much time I spend listening to music. I constantly have my ipod in my pocket with my earbuds beneath my shirt. Of the 16 hours I am awake, I am certain that I spend at least a fourth of that with music playing.
 
I notice that I am very uncomfortable if I leave the house without my ipod. Even in solitary situations, I feel very uneasy. I think this is a good sign that I am 'addicted' to music.
 
Is this something a good or a bad thing? I am going to submit that it's bad. It is not only something I'm dependent on, but it has definitely affected my thoughts. The depressing stuff really does drag me down. It also makes me a generally impatient person and more prone to pessimism. Even when I try to listen to optimistic music, like the stuff by Neal Morse for example, I only enjoy it for a little while before I can't stomach it and have to go back to stuff that's more bleak and depressing.
 
Any fellow sufferers? I am going to try to challenge myself and say that I can't listen to my ipod for a month or so. Break the chains of dependence that I have on it. While music is a source of inspiration for me, I think it's reached the point where it is actually hurting my quality of life.

[MasterShakezula]

It's as good or bad as what you make of it. 

I do many of the same things, but it doesn't really affect my thoughts or feelings; definitely not to that extent. 

[wolfking]

I'm awake 18 hours of the day and listen to music probably at least 15 hours of that.  I have my own office and desk and have about 200 of my albums ripped on my computer and listen to them for my 8 hour day.  Working outside and meetings are the only times I don't listen to my music. I do a lot of driving between work venues also, so I'm always looking forward to driving during worktime as I know it's the perfect opportunity to listen to music.

I go to the gym with a work mate so between meetings at work and my 1 hour gym session, I'm listening to music.  I even put an album on to go to sleep too.

Yes, I'm addicted.  I don't think it's that bad, but sometimes it does affect my work and my relationship, so if it's not controlled properly, it can be lethal.

[lonestar]

Addicted is a tricky word to use, since it has such a negative connotation. You have a love of music, that's how I like to look at it.  No matter what stage my addicitions are in, my love of music is a constant, beneficial presence that helps me understand myself and the world around me.

[theseoafs]

Is this something a good or a bad thing? I am going to submit that it's bad. It is not only something I'm dependent on, but it has definitely affected my thoughts. The depressing stuff really does drag me down. It also makes me a generally impatient person and more prone to pessimism. Even when I try to listen to optimistic music, like the stuff by Neal Morse for example, I only enjoy it for a little while before I can't stomach it and have to go back to stuff that's more bleak and depressing.

I move that this particular problem was not caused by listening to too much dark music. Now, I could be wrong, as I know almost nothing about you, but it seems likely to me that you've mixed up the causality here.

You're suggesting that you have somehow become "addicted to music", and the dark music you listen to has negatively and permanently affected your mood in some way. I don't know if I buy this; this is not really how the mechanism of addiction works. I don't see how listening to too much music would A) cause you to develop a dependence on music or B) make you more susceptible to the feelings evoked by music.

My hypothesis is that you recently became bummed out for unrelated reasons. If that's the case, listening to dark music would be validating, and validation of negative feelings is a positive feeling that I suppose someone could develop a dependence on. Positive music wouldn't be particularly validating, so you wouldn't listen to that. Perhaps you're also using your iPod as a way to isolate yourself from the environment around you, which would be a very natural response for bummed-out people.

Basically, I'm suggesting that the music is not at fault here, but the way you're using the music. I mean, it sounds like I spend as much time per day as you listening to music, if not more; I'm sure many of the people here would agree. It is my opinion that you are using your iPod in a way that is unhealthy, and that there's some sort of greater problem that you're neglecting. Again, I could be very wrong, but this diagnosis makes much more sense to me.

[Ħ]

Is this something a good or a bad thing? I am going to submit that it's bad. It is not only something I'm dependent on, but it has definitely affected my thoughts. The depressing stuff really does drag me down. It also makes me a generally impatient person and more prone to pessimism. Even when I try to listen to optimistic music, like the stuff by Neal Morse for example, I only enjoy it for a little while before I can't stomach it and have to go back to stuff that's more bleak and depressing.

I move that this particular problem was not caused by listening to too much dark music. Now, I could be wrong, as I know almost nothing about you, but it seems likely to me that you've mixed up the causality here.

You're suggesting that you have somehow become "addicted to music", and the dark music you listen to has negatively and permanently affected your mood in some way. I don't know if I buy this; this is not really how the mechanism of addiction works. I don't see how listening to too much music would A) cause you to develop a dependence on music or B) make you more susceptible to the feelings evoked by music.

My hypothesis is that you recently became bummed out for unrelated reasons. If that's the case, listening to dark music would be validating, and validation of negative feelings is a positive feeling that I suppose someone could develop a dependence on. Positive music wouldn't be particularly validating, so you wouldn't listen to that. Perhaps you're also using your iPod as a way to isolate yourself from the environment around you, which would be a very natural response for bummed-out people.

Basically, I'm suggesting that the music is not at fault here, but the way you're using the music. I mean, it sounds like I spend as much time per day as you listening to music, if not more; I'm sure many of the people here would agree. It is my opinion that you are using your iPod in a way that is unhealthy, and that there's some sort of greater problem that you're neglecting. Again, I could be very wrong, but this diagnosis makes much more sense to me.

I'd say that feeling bummed out and listening to depressing music both feed off each other. Before I got into depressing music, I was already a bummed out person, but it seems to have gotten worse after listening to more and more depressing music. The underlined portion is also very true of me. I'll often avoid conversations or cut conversations short because I want to get back to listening.

[MasterShakezula]

I am often sometimes guilty of isolating myself w/ iPod and cutting conversations short to ge back to my tunes. 

[wolfking]

I feel I definitely use my music as anti social behaviour.  To be honest, there is nothing more I like than isolating myself with my music, things can suffer, but I don't care.

[jsem]

I don't listen to music a whole lot actually. A lot of times, I prefer silence so I can sit and think - I don't always need a soundtrack for what I do.

However, when I do listen - I listen actively, that's the main focus right there and then. And I probably practice music more than I listen.

[Sketchy]

Yup, I became completely obsessed with it years ago. If I'm not listening to it, I'm either playing it, scheming ideas of stuff to write or sleeping.

[darkshade]

If depressing music is too much, stop. Listen to funk. That'll get you out of any slump.

[Lowdz]

I've been addicted to music for 30 years. Along with my football team it's the constant in my life.
I've always been into happier music (80s melodic rock) than it sounds like you listen to, so retreating into music at bad points in life has always been a positive thing, a mood lifter for me.
you seem stuck in a vicious circle there and your musical choice is reflecting how you feel and you can relate to it better than more cheerful fare. Maybe try to find something halfway to start with.
Sounds like your having a hard time and I wish you good things.

[Phoenix87x]

I'm addicted to music and proud of it. If I could permanently have my Ipod on then I would.

[Zook]

Letting music become an obsession: The ZeppelinDT Story


I am not obsessed with music, but I do get aggravated easily when I hear shitty music and can't do anything about it, like at my work.

[Ħ]

Sounds like your having a hard time and I wish you good things.

Thanks!

Yeah so I got rid of my ipod....
;_;

;_;

[lateralus88]

lol

[WindMaster]

I would say I'm addicted. If I leave the house without my ipod, drastic things can happen. I get fidgety and can't concentrate.

In social situations, I don't have to have music playing to interact. I think it's more in solitary situations that I find myself needing music.

Honestly, I can't explain it, but when i go without music for a while, I actually feel a withdrawal. I think it's bad when I'm at home with my headphones on not talking to my family, but I need music to function. If I don't get my fix, I get irritable.

Out of the hours when i'm not at school awake, (I think about 9 or 10) I listen to music for the majority.

I always put an album on when I go to sleep.

[skydivingninja]

Sounds like your having a hard time and I wish you good things.

Thanks!

Yeah so I got rid of my ipod....
;_;

;_;

Why?  I think you're overthinking things here (as you are wont to do) and maybe letting depressing music affect you too much with how sad it is.  Think instead about how fantastic it is that such music can move you so profoundly, and find some uplifting angles to approach it from.  Steven Wilson does it.    Of course he'd be very happy with you getting rid of your iPod so maybe you shouldn't use him as a role model for everything. 

There's nothing wrong with listening to music, and certainly nothing wrong with listening to a lot of it.  Just don't worry about things so much.  It'll drive you crazy. 

[darkshade]

Steven Wilson does it.    Of course he'd be very happy with you getting rid of your iPod so maybe you shouldn't use him as a role model for everything. 

I don't get it, does SWilson have a stance against iPods/Apple?

[theseoafs]

iPods. SW has a romantic perception of music; he's really into physical albums, and doesn't believe music should be listened to any other way. He also doesn't care for the data loss that comes with putting music in mp3 format.

[lateralus88]

Steven Wilson does it.    Of course he'd be very happy with you getting rid of your iPod so maybe you shouldn't use him as a role model for everything. 

I don't get it, does SWilson have a stance against iPods/Apple?

No, absolutely not. Where did you ever get that idea?

[The Letter M]

I listen to music as much as possible in my waking hours, and even when I sleep, I have my iPod playing next to my bed over night. Last night was Yessongs.

I have music at my computer/desk at work, so when I'm at my desk, I'm listening to music. Always in my car. And if I can, always at home, unless I'm busy with friends/girlfriend or doing other things (like taking a shower). Otherwise, I'll always have something playing.

And even now as I lay in bed and looking at the corner of my small room to the huge pile of boxes/cases full of CDs and music DVDs, I wonder how far my obsession has come in the mere decade I've become so in love with music. In less than ten years, I've spent more money on music and music-related things than I have for anything else.

Yeah, I'm obsessed. But that's okay.

-Marc.

[TioJorge]

I don't know if the word 'obsession' can be related to music for me, but it's definitely a very large facet of my life. If I can, I'm listening to music every chance I get. So unless it hinders with what I'm doing at the time (studying, watching a movie, etc.) then yeah music is going to be blaring. Sitting at my computer, music is always on and I'm usually multitasking, searching for some kind of new band or genre; if I'm taking a shower, I've got a playlist on; if I'm doing yard work, I've got my headphones on full blast; if I'm driving, you can bet your ass that car is bumpin'. Boom boom. I love music, and I can't exactly see how it can be an obsession in terms of being 'addicted' as some have mentioned, but it definitely has manifested itself in a way that has encompassed my life, though for the better. Nothing drastic, but certain bands or specific songs have shaped my life in little ways that add up over the years. It's hard to imagine that in my younger years, while I grew up with many influences that molded what I listen to now, I didn't have any interest in music at all. I didn't even buy my first CD until I was in highschool (Metallica - MOP, lil' tidbit). While I can't say that I 'couldn't live without it', it's accurate to say I can't 'picture my life' without music; it'd be a very hard transition...very, very difficult.

Suffice it to say I've let music take over a portion of my life; it's certainly apart of who I am now. Though I'm not looking to date and I am enjoying the single life to its utmost potential (oh and SCREW FEMALES, YOU DIRTY VAGINAS), I can say now with only a slight cringe that if someone I'm dating can't bear to listen to the music I listen to or at least let me have my time to rock out, the relationship wouldn't work. So yeah...knowing that somewhat pathetic fact, I think it's safe to say that music is, in some way, my beloved obsession.

[fadetoblackdude7]

I wouldn't use the word "addicted" but "passionate". You're in love with music so you have to be surrounded by it all the time, which is a good thing. The only bad thing about carrying your ipod with you everywhere is that it might be weird in social situations lol.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

Sounds like your having a hard time and I wish you good things.

Thanks!

Yeah so I got rid of my ipod....
;_;

;_;

lol

[lateralus88]

Yep.

[Ħ]

Why

is that funny

[ClairvoyantCat]

It seem horribly unnecessary, from my point of view.  I've had trouble regulating my ipod use as you have, and have had to come up with ground-rules to limit my listening, but getting rid of it seems pretty absurd since there's still loads of places where it comes in handy and wouldn't substitute for social interaction or likewise anyway.  Did you actually get rid of it, as in selling it? 

[Ħ]

...it was raining and I was in a romantic mood.

[lateralus88]

Okay, NOW it's funny.

[ClairvoyantCat]

You could have made a child very happy. 

That's what Jesus would have done. 

[Ħ]

You could have made a child very happy. 

Psh it has Opeth and Porcupine Tree on it.

[LieLowTheWantedMan]

You could have made a child very happy. 

Psh it has Opeth and Porcupine Tree on it.

Which takes like a couple seconds to replace.

[MasterShakezula]

Hayden, I generally sympathize with/relate to you, but man, I am laughing my ass off.   

I've never heard of someone throwing their iPod in a drain because they fear they're listening to music too much. 

I mean no offense, but that's a bit on the side closest to strangeville. 

I do hope you are able to sort your emotions out; I think that the problem here isn't music, but emotions.  IT sounds like you're in a tough period and I know you're a bright guy, so you'll figure things out. 

[The Letter M]

I do hope you are able to sort your emotions out; I think that the problem here isn't music, but emotions.  IT sounds like you're in a tough period and I know you're a bright guy, so you'll figure things out.

What's odd is, in tough emotional times, I usually turn to music as my solace, but I guess different strokes for different folks.

-Marc.