Does Music help or hinder your studying?

I spend a dangerous amount of time listening to music, so I started wondering — is it only a pastime or can it actually be productive and help me academically? So, I started reading articles and posts about whether it is harmful or helpful — especially while studying.

I realised that the conclusion is not black or white, but rather a false dichotomy, when really, it depends on a spectrum of factors that affect different people differently. I came across very interesting posts that explore the effect of music through either personal or scientific approaches, and I wanted to merge the two to understand how we can use music to our advantage.

A Harvard Business Review article I read says that music can be a magical tool to boost productivity — if used correctly. It’s important to note that productivity and smartness are two completely different things, which means that music obviously doesn’t increase your IQ, rather it can affect your mood to enhance your productivity.

The Mozart Myth

The “Mozart Effect” became famous in the 1990s, after a study conducted by Frances Rauscher, Gordon Shaw, and Katherine Ky. They asked a group of college students to listen to Mozart’s Sonata for 10 minutes, and then gave them tests that required problem solving and spatial reasoning skills. 

The result? Students who listened to Mozart did slightly better than those who didn’t. What they didn’t realise was that publishing their findings would lead to the formation of a belief — that listening to Mozart made you smarter. The media exaggerated the study, and many others tried to replicate it, but some found this hypothesis to be true while others did not.

Now, scientists believe that the “Mozart Effect” was only temporarily true because of the feeling of positivity and release of dopamine, which, in turn, affects your output slightly. Mozart may have been a genius, but that doesn’t mean listening to him will make you one! 

Another interesting angle that psychologists believe in is personality types. They say that introverts and extroverts take in information differently, and process it in different ways too. Extroverts, who seek stimulation and are comfortable with social interaction, tend to perform better with background music. It keeps them alert, energises them and gives them motivation to work.

Introverts, on the other hand, experience it differently. Since they are already relatively sensitive to external stimulation, background music can overwhelm them and make them even more anxious, making the task at hand seem even bigger. A study in Frontiers in Psychology shows that introverts perform worse with the music while extroverts perform better. In the end, it’s not about how smart you are, it’s just a matter of how your brain is wired to perceive stimulation.

How does it work for me? Personally, it depends on what I’m working on. If it’s something repetitive, like solving Maths worksheets, music helps me concentrate. When I’m writing an essay, and I have to think about what I’m writing, silence helps my thoughts flow. 

In conclusion, I now understand that music should be used as a tool not a means to an end; it doesn’t make you smarter or better at studying, but it can make you want to study, which is far more important.

By Aadya Satpathy, Grade 9