Could music be harmful?

Now i'm not suggesting it could be i'm meerly asking if anything has been looked at in this field, I mean we keep hearing how out diets are flooded with gm foods and unnatural stuff etc, the air we breathe is full of harmful synthetic stuff, but what about music? Fisrtly I know when we first evolved in the african jungles there were loads of weird creatures making noises but that's still not quite like the music we have today, I mean this could apply to all music but here i'm reffering to mainly Electro/Techno This stuff is the msot synthetic of all, but not only that, this sort of music aswell as trance is often the msot "euphoric", it releases endorphins just like morphene/heroin, now I know stuff like sex also releases these endorphins but people often listen to music for hours at a time, could increase receptors int eh brain actually making this stuff physically addictive?

I don't know if anyone here has experienced this but i'm sure someone must have, when you're walking around somewhere with your iPod and then the bettery suddenly cuts out you suddenly feel so anti climactic, sometimes I stay up until 2am just because the music is so addictive that i get a real downer just going up to bed with silence. it's always "Just one more play".

Your thoughts on all thsi please :)

The only way music can be harmful is if you turn it up too loud. I doubt there are any physical side-effects from "music addiction".

I'm not just on about the music addiction but the sounds are unnatural, we didn't evolve for hearing thsoe sounds so could there be any effect from that is what i'm on about

You could be on to something here...I wouldn't be surprise if some types of music boosted those 'feel-good' hormones or w/e they are (I'm no neurologist).

Not to mention possible subliminal messages that artists could put into their songs.

Very interesting thoughts!!

Any instrument could be considered synthasized (sp)... it's something people create.
Shamans and Mystics and many other people from our ancient past, used music, chants and instruments to incite certain emotions from the spiritual to battle lust.
And studying binaural sounds shows that certain frequencies affect the brain in different ways...
Can a person become addicted to music? Maybe not in and of itself, but to the feelings it evokes I think it most certainly can.

I love music and a lot of times, if a particularly "moving" melody comes on the radio I will stop what I'm doing to enjoy it. I'll even sit in a parking lot until a song is finished if I like it enough. But I generally don't have a problem shutting off immediately afterwards (before something else catches my attention lol).

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Originally Posted by Zhaylin

Shamans and Mystics and many other people from our ancient past, used music, chants and instruments to incite certain emotions from the spiritual to battle lust.

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they also used peyote.. haha woooo!

definately an interesting thought.. i know what you mean by the euphoric feeling, but as it's still something the body produces itself i think it's still relatively natural, something like ecstacy is quite different as it makes the brain produce unnatural amounts of dopamine/serotonin for a long time.. although i'm no scientist.. hehe

Other than hearing unpleasant, dissonant intervals (like the dreaded minor second) that give you that "nails on a chalkboard" feeling, I don't see how music could be harmful in any way...unless I touch upon the subject of how exposure to loud music can result in permanent hearing loss, but I highly doubt that's what you mean. All I know is that something about music must be evolutionarily necessary, since all human beings are naturally able to distinguish between consonant and dissonant intervals (this especially includes the most consonant of intervals - the octave).

I don't think music could be harmful, and Electronica is no more harmful than say, Heavy Metal. I don't think anyone is really "addicted" to music, because there wouldn't be things such as withdrawl symptoms if you took it away. Music is just something that is a part of culture and people enjoy listening to, not an addiction, or something to harm you.

Hey withdrawal symptoms are totally plausible, in my opinion.

I've never heard of it happening.

I haven't either, but let's think about an example: Someone listens to music religiously throughout the day, because it's the person's only way of relieving stress, unwinding, whatever. And if the music is suddenly taken away, I'd imagine that person would start to go through a tough time until he/she figures out a replacement for music. Sounds like withdrawal symptoms to me.

But anyhoo, just because something can create withdrawal symptoms doesn't automatically make it a bad thing.

I don't go a day without listening to music, i'm listening to music right now.

I find it very relaxing to listen to and it often keeps me optimistic when maybe my day isn't going so well. When i get the bus home and my walkmans out of battery i get ticked off, i mean whats better, some wonderful orchestral music or the sound of an old lady eating a pasty?

I listen to music a lot. Mostly Queens of the Stone Age, Muse, The Killers, Gorillaz, classical composers (Not as much, but I still love them), and Jimi Hendrix.

I also play music, and can write it as well.

I think the only way it can be harmful would be the "brown note" (WHich has been proven false) and if your headphones are too loud.

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Originally Posted by [SomeGuy]

I listen to music a lot. Mostly Queens of the Stone Age, Muse, The Killers, Gorillaz, classical composers (Not as much, but I still love them), and Jimi Hendrix.

I also play music, and can write it as well.

I think the only way it can be harmful would be the "brown note" (WHich has been proven false) and if your headphones are too loud.

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Oh yeah, brown noises. I've listened to one, they don't work, as you said.

A 3500hz square wave can do damage to your hearing at any volume.

But it won't make you poop.

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Originally Posted by Mes Tarrant

Hey withdrawal symptoms are totally plausible, in my opinion.

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I agree.

I believe that music, which is able to cause an extreme emotional impact would certainly be able to cause negative effects other than those on hearing.

Music is often used as a way of dealing with stress and overall just soothing the listener. If music is taken away then it is certainly possible for the person to feel down.

It would be interesting to see how how "artificial" the music is makes a difference like Thatperson's first post brings up. Nowadays everyone is exposed to so much artificial music I don't think the impact would be too large unless the person listens to dance music all day where its a bass hit every beat. Unvarying music such as that could certainly have a dramatic impact (and give lots of headaches). The lyrical content of music can have an impact, especially on people under 16 (that's the age that I feel that I learned what common sense was and learned to judge music appropriately so of course this will be different for everyone, "garbage in=garbage out" seems to apply to young teenagers quite a bit, although its probably based on many other factors too such as parents, tv, general environment, genetics, etc). We can't just blame music for society's problems but we can't ignore what trashy music can do people's thinking.

http://www.howard-winn.k12.ia.us/pro.../negative.html

That link has some interesting points and data but I'm not sure I agree with some of the conclusions.



http://www.2knowmyself.com/Psycholog...of_my_immortal

Again an article with some interesting points but with some arguable conclusions.



http://cognitive-psychology.suite101...ogical_effects

A google search turns up a lot of articles on specifically rap music and this is just one link that briefly mentions some of the different areas music can affect.