This morning as I was driving to work, a car pulled up next to me with music blaring. I looked over at the car and noticed all the windows were closed. If it was uncomfortable for me to hear this on the outside of that car, how uncomfortable was it for the person on the inside? You may argue this and say it’s personal preference, but let’s really examine this for a moment.

I remember when I was younger living by the motto, “If the music’s to loud, you’re too old.” I even recall getting upset many times because “MAX VOLUME” was just not loud enough for me. Being young seems to have it’s own set of rules; rebelling, exploring things in life, etc.

I’m not arguing that we all listen to our music at volume level 2, nor am I saying that there aren’t certain songs, moments, or days that deserve some loud, even obnoxious volumes to come out of your car (as long as you are not so impaired to drive safely of course). So, maybe the better question is once you’ve passed your young rebellious phase in life, why is the music still so loud all the time?

Everyone I can think of listens to some sort of music.

Besides enjoying it, music itself has therapeutic qualities. You can be in a bad mood and a couple songs from your favorite genre(s) can lift your spirits or just plain make you smile again. There are even songs that are appropriate for certain moments. Do you remember listening to songs like “Love stinks” when you had a crush or went through a bad break up? It kind of helped for the moment, didn’t it? Those situations are fine and healthy for you. It’s when music has become your “out” to dealing with life’s problems.

I had gone through a phase in my life where music was basically my drug of choice. Sounds silly, but when you no longer deal with the crisis and resort to anything, be it drugs, food, or something as silly as music, you have just attempted a type of “escapism”. You’ll notice people looking for distractions to relieve themselves from life usually through some sort of entertainment or even a fantasy (Facebook anyone?).

Escaping for a little isn’t bad as one of my points in the article 3 Great Ways to Relieve Stress is to take a mini vacation, or in other words, escape. Again, the point here is not the music, not the volume, not even escaping. The issue is when and how much.

So here’s the real question: If you’re constantly listening to music at a very loud volume, what problem(s) or who’s voice are you really trying to escape?

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