If Generation Z was an object it would be wireless headphones.
Go to a mall, high school, or gym, every teenager you see will have some sort of stimulus in their ear. Why? The simplest answer that most teens will give is: since we have phones and are able to listen to any song anywhere we listen to music everywhere. However, I don’t think this sums up the actual truth.
Music has the power to alter moods, set tones, influence conversation and infiltrate minds. Take my Spotify account, for example, I have nine playlists that I made and listen to religiously, the first one being Car Jams/Bass boost, then we have Car bops- parent-approved, outside of these hundreds of songs long playlist there’s also Iyla Joys Simping, Going hard with Corona, Lift your eyes to Him IJ, Tiktok and Depression has taken over my life, A reminder I’m literally 8, The hardest years of my god awful teens, and finally Childhood bops.
Based on the names you know exactly what to expect from the songs in the queue. If we look at the playlist Iyla Joy’s simping we know they will be all about trying to get someone to date with no avail, or we can look at Tiktok and Depression has taken over my life and from that title, we know the songs are popular on the app Tik Tok and are all sad.
But why take the time to make these? Why do we as teens listen to sad songs when we feel sad to make ourselves sadder? As a whole generation we struggle to say what we feel, we struggle to express ourselves in ‘real words,’ but these musicians have lived more, they’re a step ahead of us and they’ve had time to figure out what to say and how to say it. Sometimes they are able to fix our attitudes, but sometimes they make it worse, convincing us it is the end of the world. The reason that my peers and I always listen to music is that it distracts. It distracts us from our own thoughts, from whatever is swirling in their heads, and once the music turns off the thoughts all come rushing back, usually with way more force.
So when you see someone who always has the staple Airpod in their ear or is constantly listening to music please don’t be offended. It’s how we deal with the emotions and situations that we face.