The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

The student newspaper of Bucks County Community College

The Centurion

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Jamming While Hitting the Books

Jamming+While+Hitting+the+Books

Is listening to your favorite song while studying really a good thing?  Music can be an amazing part of many young people’s everyday lives, especially on campus.

Recently, Stanford University did an experiment with the Washington Post to discover whether or not multi-tasking media with work was effective.  The experiment concluded that “those doing more tasks at once performed more poorly on a test of task-switching ability.”  Researchers concluded that it was “likely is due to a reduced ability to stop focusing on one task as they moved to another one.”

Those results have not hampered college students from listening to music while studying, however, but all have different tastes.

Listening to music is just as distracting as having someone talking in normal conversation while taking a test or doing homework. It can take away from the quality of your work, bringing your efficiency down according to www.mindthesciencegap.org.

“Music is just a distraction, when I do homework, Matt Miglorino said. It’s best for me to do it in a quiet, calm environment with no one around to bother me.”

That could be because many songs have different meanings for different people. Music can make you think of that ex-girlfriend, that vacation you took last summer or simply your younger years. Meanwhile you have thousand word papers that are due at midnight.

“Lyrics can be distracting for some students, Matt Frickmann said. Loud instrumentals on my headphones help me to complete the task at hand. Lyrics aren’t there to distract me from my assignment, and it helps a lot to have a melody to listen to while working.”

In all cases music is used as an outlet to ease the mind, and help to get work done efficiently, but is this concept truly justified?

Scientifically speaking, it is actually better to have someone giving a lecture in the background of your setting while working, than it is to listen to any type of music, with or without lyrics.

Some students can study effectively with music playing, while others are distracted by any outside stimulus. Studying, doing homework and testing are all totally different things, but music can help some people while studying or looking over a paper.

Many Bucks students described listening to music while working as “helping them concentrate, and stay focused.”

For example, Michael Caro enjoyed listening to calm music in his headphones as it helps him relax, and get his assignments done.

Music in general can help Bucks students stay away from outside distractions and help them get into their “zone.”

“Listening to my headphones generally avoids distractions, Cameron Owens said. My favorite is to search the “Crazy Train” guitar riff on YouTube, and the constant melody helps me stay focused. I can’t seem to ignore the outside world otherwise.”

Lyrics can be distracting for some students.  Matt Frickmann explains, “Loud instrumentals on my headphones help me to complete the task at hand. Lyrics aren’t there to distract me from my assignment, and it helps a lot to have a melody to listen to while working”. In all cases music is used as an outlet to ease the mind, and help to get work done efficiently, but is this concept truly justified?

At the end of the day, it may actually prove to be a better idea to complete these assignments in a calm, quiet, comfortable environment rather than be distracted by the music in the background.