Experiment – 30 days without music

What did you do?
For exactly 30 days I have tried not to actively listen to any music. So no Spotify, no YouTube, and did I mention NO SPOTIFY?

You cheated, didn’t you?
Well, only when I had to. After half of the time was finished, I was invited to a piano concert and didn’t want to miss out on that. Some movies I watched featured long musical scenes and at other times friends wanted to listen to a specific song with me. I was allowed to listen to ambient rainfall when my coworkers got too annoying. That being said, I probably reduced my music consumption by more than 90%

Why did you do that?
I want to try more new stuff and see how it affects my productivity, sleep, etc.

Well, did it?
Productivity-wise I felt that I was less productive during the day at work but more productive in the evening. Listening to music often helps me push trough work that I don’t really want to do and makes boring tasks much more enjoyable. On the other hand, I can certainly concentrate better without music and I might has completed some hard tasks faster. After coming home from work, I often just lean back and listen to music continually without really doing anything. As I no longer had this option, I had much more time on my hand which I could use on various projects – like writing blog articles. Sleep-wise, I think I had a slightly easier time dozing off. Before, I sometimes had the impression (as confirmed by my Fitbit) that listening to music late at night gets my heart rate up and leaves me restless.

Was it fun?
No, not at all. I was actually really surprised how much I missed music. Remembering a specific song and just not being able to listen to it was far more unpleasant than I had anticipated. After about 2 weeks, I started dreaming about opening Spotify and failing the experiment.

Anything else you noticed?
I started singing in the shower. On the way to work. At work when I was alone in the room. I don’t consider myself a music aficionado at all, but apparently, I really needed some melody in my life.

Will you continue doing it?
No. I might consider blocking Spotify before 12 in the morning and after 9 in the evening, but that’s about it.