How bad are headphones though, really?
It’s obvious to anyone outside of oblivion that listening along to your favorite music while your teacher discusses in detail your work for the day is a distraction during active teaching time, but what is the incentive to ban them entirely? Is the best interest of students in mind?
Of all motives discussed regarding the banning of headphones during school, some are good, and some reek with hints of desperation. A few of the most commonly tossed around include focus, memory, socialization, distraction, and the casual “not when we were kids.”
The very first pair of headphones looked strikingly different than what we see children walking around with today; originally invented in 1891. These initial headphones were intended to be used by telephone operators, but skip forward another hundred years or so, you’ll see kids today wearing their music in their ears.
But why do young teenagers in particular feel so adamant about walking around, one ear out of commision? Comfort? Confidence? Both? Neither? Likely, every person you could ask would have their own answer as to why they think so many people prefer to go about their day backed by their favorite songs, even at the price of their ability to hear.
In a school setting in particular, it wouldn’t be unreasonable to consider how easily one could feel stressed in such a loud environment. Liberty High School has roughly 1,700 students enrolled, and class sizes can range anywhere from 10 to over 30 students in just one classroom. Though during the hour which lunch is in session the students are allowed to wear their earphones, doing so at any point in class will surely merit a detention. No matter the class. No matter the class size. No matter the teacher.
Banning use of headphones of any sort for any use other than academic – is this a reasonable counter to the over usage of last year, or is it the greed of those in power wanting more control over students? Were independent classes such as art, where listening is not as crucial taken into consideration? What about independent working time, like writing a paper or completing a math worksheet? Should the choice as to whether students are or aren’t allowed to listen to music while they work be handed to the ones who actually teach the said class? The circumstances of classes can vary wildly.
In a language class such as Spanish, French, or German it would be more prudent to ban the usage of headphones, but in a class such as painting, drawing, or sculpting, to not listen to music while one works on their piece would be painfully boring. A blanket ban to get rid of headphone usage during every class available at school- no matter the opinion of the teacher controlling the class- won’t be in the best interest of students in classes where listening to music during school hours would be beneficial.
According to an article by College of Arts & Sciences at Texas A&M University, in an interview with a cognitive psychologist, Brian Anderson, Anderson said, “Multitasking is a fallacy; human beings are not capable of truly multitasking because attention is a limited resource, and you can only focus on so much without a cost.” Later in the article it is explained that with human memory, people do better at recalling information in the conditions in which it was learned.
Since listening to music during an exam will certainly be a violation in any subject, it would be best to study and or learn the subject in silence: the most similar condition one will find. While this is all true, another study from northshore.org mentions how music can increase the brain’s production of the hormone dopamine. The elevation in dopamine levels is beneficial especially in a school setting where stress levels and bad days are not untypical.
To counter the musical ban, teachers may play music on their own computers aloud for students to listen to- but what about every student’s personal music taste? Each student will certainly have their own individual likes and dislikes when it comes to music which they choose to listen to, and there is no way to satisfy everyone at once. What about the students who cannot focus as well, with the additional distraction?
Student Patrick Emery appeals to this saying, “I don’t listen to music while I work, because, unlike most people, I listen to music that I actually enjoy, so I end up singing along with it the whole time.”
So, the question remains: Is the ban on headphones beneficial to students, or will it have a negative impact on their academic performance and overall wellbeing?
