Music is my life. It’s as simple as that. I live through my music. Whether it’s turning up the volume in my car or Spotify Wrapped telling me I listen to an artist whom I have never even heard of before, the music that I surround myself with helps me focus, gives me energy, and even improves my mental health and academic ability.

Music is much more than just words and lyrics put together on a good tune; it’s my mental sanctuary. I have not gone a day this year without some lyrical masterpiece transporting me away from all of the worries of the world and into the song. Music is the magic carpet that lets me fly away from the rest of the world. When I am not listening to music, I have to face the music (pun intended) and experience all the problems of the world. I would much rather pull a Dobie Gray and get lost in rock and roll and drift away.

It’s very difficult for me to fall asleep without music. Playing music essentially turns off the brain and can help a person relax. Although music drowns out the rest of the world, it can also help me feel relaxed and allow me to slowly fall asleep (but never with my Airpods in, that’s actually very bad for you, and I can’t condone it). When listening to music, it’s clinically proven that your heart rate decreases significantly and eases the tension in your body, allowing you to fall asleep or relax at a much quicker pace.

Another reason music plays such an important role in my life is that music can make you feel a certain unexplainable way. Scientifically, the limbic system in our brains, which processes emotions and controls memory, lights up and gives us a dopamine high when our ears perceive music. Our body’s response to music is the result of the neurotransmitter dopamine that triggers sensations of pleasure and well-being, and the perception of happiness is created whenever we listen to the type of music that is appealing to our ears. Unscientifically, music uses sound, tempo, and rhythm to improve the mood of an environment or atmosphere (often the reason why concerts and worship groups usually have such high energy levels)

Music is ABSOLUTELY VITAL for a person’s mental health. When I fill my head with music, it helps block out any degrading or interfering thoughts. Music carries my spirits and gets me through life.

I listen to all types of music. Spotify Wrapped told me that I listen to 365 different genres, and I have yet to find someone close to that number. But the thing about all of the genres I listen to (from worship and 90s rock to whatever constitutes “honky tonk bar music” and “Mongolian metal throat singing”) is that every single one of them allows the thoughts in my brain to melt away and lets me feel the music. That might be an example of schizophrenia and hallucinations, but if it helps me get through the day, then it helps me get through the day.

Without music playing in my ears, it’s extremely difficult to focus on something that I’m not exactly interested in (also known as homework). When I go to my room to lock in on the countless missing assignments I have, I use a particular tactic to help me lock in: the 2000s teenage girl pop playlist method. You may be asking yourself, “What is this odd method that this random high schooler is referring to here?” Yeah, it’s exactly what you think it is. Whenever I need to focus on something, I begin to play 1990s-2000s teenage girl pop music, playing Taylor Swift, Britney Spears, and Beyoncé on my Spotify queue.

Here’s the thing: I absolutely and will forever detest most 1990s-2000s teenage girl pop music (there are a couple of exceptions because there are some good ones that are unskippable, also known as “Wannabe” by the Spice Girls). But when I have to finish an assignment I haven’t started, which is due at 11:59, I know the first thing popping up on my queue will be a song that I both hate with a passion but can also help me lock in significantly.

With the implementation of the cell phone ban in schools being put in place for the past 6-7 months, there have been a number of advantages as well as limitations that have come with it.

One of the primary disadvantages of the ban is that students are unable to listen to music throughout the school day. I know a number of students who had to go from listening to music upwards of 8 hours a day to being prohibited from using AirPods or headphones for 9 hours straight, five days a week, and having difficulties from going cold turkey.

Some (like my parents) would call this an addiction, but with the large number of advantages that come from listening to music, I believe the cell phone ban has inadvertently hurt student growth and mental development.

With scientific results backing the ideas of music improving performance, increasing focus and attention, and decreasing stress and anxiety, it is evident that incremental and cordial steps should be taken to allow the use of headphones and AirPods in school. Even if taking these next steps only means conducting more studies or testing out less strict phone restrictions on students more interconnected with the Bryan-College Station area rather than the state of Texas as a whole, it will still be a step forward for the growth and development of the mental capacities of students. It would even be a step in the right direction if they started playing music in the hallway during passing periods.

Although I agree that listening to too much music is unhealthy, there is a line that can be drawn where an appropriate amount of time can be spent on listening to music in school. Listening to music during lunches or in study halls rather than during times of instruction could lead to increased performance and focus, and an overall decrease in stress and anxiety of students.

Until the importance of music in the education system, mental health, and in a person’s development is addressed, the only thing that will stop me from fighting against the regulation of music is the dying battery of my AirPods, and with it, the dying attention span of me complaining about the lack of acknowledgement for the importance of music.