Music aides, distracts working students

At one point during our school career, whether it was in middle school or high school, we have heard at least one teacher say “music is distracting during a working environment”. Are they right or are they wrong? That’s the question. Although this topic is heavily debated, the benefits outweigh the costs. 

According to an article “The Science of Music and Productivity” (zapier.com), during a study of workers who choose to work with music or in silence, there was an increase in mood, quality of work, and an overall happier experience in workers who choose to work with music. 

Work for students are the assignments they get daily, when music is played in the background either at home or in the classroom, classmates tend to focus on our assignments more when listening to music. 

On the other hand, buinessinsider.com stated that “your performance on intellectual tasks (think reading or writing) suffers considerably when you listen to music”. Some students don’t have issues with listening to music while writing or reading, but at times some do struggle with that because they can’t concentrate on both things at once.

Many juniors and seniors have jobs where music is played in the background. Junior Haley Blackmon works at Happy’s Pizza where music is on all the time. Blackmon said it doesn’t distract her from her work at all.

“If it gets too loud I ask them to turn it down, but other than that it just makes working more fun when we can enjoy our favorite music,” said Blackmon.

Senior Mandy Petkovich works at Taco Bell where music is also played in the background. Petkovich said at times the music gets very distracting.

“It motivates me when it is a song I know but, if it isn’t, I am the person who will sit there and beat myself up about it because I don’t know it. If it is too loud it gets very distracting and I can’t hear others,” said Petkovich.

Again, this is a very back and forth topic with lots of pros and cons therefore it resonates differently for everyone. Teachers have a point about it being distracting, but they’re just thinking about the students who do get distracted. But, they should consider the fact that lots of kids do get motivated when listening to their favorite music and that it does help them a lot in the end.