Music can be good or bad for us. For example, studies have shown that certain types of classical or instrumental music have therapeutic effects. When you’re doing physical exercise, which requires more strength or a faster pace, music with a fast rhythm can motivate you to prolong the exercise or give you more resistance during training.

However, researchers have also discovered that when realizing more complex tasks, which require more concentration, any type of music can make the process harder.

The basic idea is: music activates our emotions and serves as a motivator for repetitive, tedious tasks, which require little brain activity; for more challenging jobs, take off the headphones.

This confirms my experiences and observations. I’ve noticed that many people, especially young ones, use music as a type of anesthesia. They can’t handle ­silence. If they don’t have a soundtrack playing when they wake up, head to work or school, while they’re in the car, in the office, i­n bed, in the bathroom­­… They’re not able to do anything. Even when there’s nothing playing on their iPod, it’s playing in their head. That’s how influential music is to the brain; it then goes into auto-pilot.

No need to say that people who live like this are not, actually, in control of their lives. They’re controlled by the feelings created by the music they listen to and their daily routines. Because there’s no time or silence to stop, concentrate, think, question, create, plan — or better, use their reason and exercise their mind, the person lives their life “playing it by ear,” literally. How do I know this? Because I’ve been there. As a teen I was moved by music too. Through music I would drown out my latest heartbreak. I would work by day, and stay up all night recording horrible music mixes from the FM stations… (Anybody see a dinosaur passing by?)

I’m not criticizing any type of music. Like I said, it has its positive side. I’m simply helping you think: Could it be that your music habits have anesthetized your brain?

What if, once in a while, you found some time to:

• Organize your thoughts?
• Drive without listening to the radio?
• Listen to an edifying audio book instead of music?
• Look for silence and run from noise?
• Stimulate your mind more instead of your emotions?
• Make plans for your life instead of just going with the flow?
• Auto-analyze your performance in every area of your life?

It’s an idea that came to me while I wasn’t listening to music…

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