The Listeners Statistics

Hypothesis:   

            While completing surveys, I expect to find that people believe that music is not a cause of teenage depression as said from teenagers themselves. I expect to see that they all listen to music on a daily basis for more than one hour at a time. When teenagers listen to music they use it to block out others while the music puts them in a more positive mood at the same time. When witnessing their friends listen to music they will see an improvement in their friends' mood. The music all around can be used in any situation but would be mainly used to improve the mood of teens after an argument.

Context:

            The target audience were teenagers since that is what my blog is about. I chose teenagers since the topic of teenage depression is directly surrounded on teenagers I wanted to see if they agreed. From the survey I discovered that many teens agree with me when it comes to the fact if music is a main cause for teenage depression.  My results are reliable and valid because I divided the respondents, since they were all teens into music groups to see the effects a certain music genre had towards the thoughts of the respondents. One of my questions that were not very helpful towards the research was whether they saw a change in their friends emotions or not. Some said they did not see a change in their friends emotions yet in the follow up question, said that their friends became happy contradicting their previous statement. But also, the fact that they said their friends became happy benefited my research.

Music Genre(27 participants)	Question 1: Do you listen to music everyday?	Question 3: How long do you listen to music?
Rap(6 participants)	Yes	The common trend is 3-4 hours.
R&B(4 participants)	Yes	The common trend is 3-4 hours.
Pop(6 participants)	Yes	The trend is from 1 hour to all day.
Country(4 participants)	Yes	1- 2hours is the common trend.
Rock(8 participants)	Yes	The common trend with rock is 3 hours and longer among the people.
Metal (3 participants)	Yes	The common trend is more than 3 hours.
Everything (8 participants)	Yes	The common trend with everything is 5 hours to all day.

 

 

Music Genre(25 participants)	Question 4: Does the music you listen to effect your mood?	Question 5: Music is a cause for depression in teens, (True or False)
Rap(5 participants)	The common trend was that it did effect their mood.	Two said true but the rest said false.
R&B(4 participants)	The common trend was that it did effect their mood.	Two said true and the rest said false.
Pop(6 participants)	The common trend was that it effected their mood but a small amount said it didn't.	They all said false.
Country(4 participants)	The common trend was that it effected their mood but a small amount said it didn't.	Two said true and the rest said false.
Rock(7 participants)	The common trend was that it did effect their mood.	They all said false.
Metal (3 participants)	The common trend was that it did effect their mood.	They all said false.
Everything (8 participants)	The common trend was that it did effect their mood.	One said true and the rest said false.

 

Music Genre(25 participants)	Question 6: Do you see a change in your friends' mood when they listen to music?	Question 7: What kind of mood do your friends go into?
Rap(5 participants)	They all said they had seen a change.	All but one said it was used to block people out.
R&B(4 participants)	They all said they had seen a change.	All but one said it was used to block others out.
Pop(6 participants)	They all said they had seen a change.	They all said it was used to block people out.
Country(4 participants)	Two said they did not see a change in their friends yet the other two said they did.	They all said it was used to block people out.
Rock(7 participants)	One said they did not see a change in their friend and the rest said they did.	All but two said it was used to block people out.
Metal (3 participants)	One said they did not see a change in their friends and the other two did.	They all said it was used to block people out.
Everything (8 participants)	One said they did not see a change and the other seven said they did.	They all said it was used to block people out.

 

 

Question 8: Do you think music is used to block others out?   Music Genre(27 participants)	Trends
Rap(6 participants)	All but one said it was used to block people out.
R&B(4 participants)	All but one said it was used to block others out.
Pop(6 participants)	They all said it was used to block people out.
Country(4 participants)	They all said it was used to block people out.
Rock(8 participants)	All but two said it was used to block people out.
Metal (3 participants)	They all said it was used to block people out.
Everything (8 participants)	They all said it was used to block people out.

 

Music Genre(27 participants)	Question 9: Do you blast music....?	Question 10: When do you think people would most likely listen music?
Rap(6 participants)	They all said they would listen to it alone and with others.	Many said that people listen to music mainly after an argument, when bored and in the car.
R&B(4 participants)	They all said they would listen to it alone and with others.	Many said that people listen to music mainly after an argument, when bored and in the car.
Pop(6 participants)	They all said they would listen to it alone and with others.	Many said that people listen to music mainly after an argument, when bored and in the car.
Country(4 participants)	They all said they would listen to it alone and with others.	Many said that people listen to music mainly when bored.
Rock(8 participants)	Many said the would both blast it alone and with others.	Many said that people listen to music mainly after an argument, when bored and in the car.
Metal (3 participants)	One said they like to blast music with others and two said they would also blast it alone.	Many said that people listen to music mainly after an argument, when bored and in the car.
Everything (8 participants)	They all said they would blast music with others and alone except two.	Many said that people listen to music mainly after an argument, when bored and in the car.

Data Analysis

            My first finding was that many teens agreed that music was not a cause of teenage depression. This is the main point I am trying to make so this is very beneficial to my research. If twenty two people out of the twenty seven believe this then if more surveys are filled out this statistic will grow.  The teens also said that the music that they listen to effects their emotions. If the music isn't effecting their music to make them depressed it is putting them into a more positive mood. Twenty three people out of twenty seven people feel that music effects their emotions. Only on person believes that music cause depression between the ton. Yes this is negative towards my data yet it is still just one person out of twenty three.  Twenty three people in my results come out to 85%.                                                                                             

        Everyone who had taken my survey had said they listened to music every day for at least an hour. This was very substantial toward my research since it is surrounded by music. If every single teen that I surveyed listens to music every day then every survey can contribute towards the research. 37% of the teenagers surveyed had listened to music for five hours or more. This is very helpful because this is the biggest percentage out of the amount of hours that the teens had listened to music. If 1/3 of the teens can listen to music for up to five hours and stay positive then that gives me hope when proving point.                                      

         81% of the teens surveyed had said they had seen a change in their friends emotions while they listened to music. 41% said they had seen their friends mood become happy, 26% said their friends had became excited, 26% said that it depended on the music and 7% said sad. This helps my data because out of all they surveyors 67% said that their friends had been brought into a more positive mood. If over half of the surveyors are going into a definite more positive mood this shows that they believe music is helpful and not negative towards their friends also. 

        89% of the surveyors agreed that music is used to bock others out. This is helpful to my research because that shows that music is used to block the outside world out when it is negatively affecting you. Music is used as an escape, and many of the surveyors agree. They blast music alone and with friends This helps because this shows that music is positive and they want to share it with others, but that they also just enjoy it alone, and how it makes them feel. As shown in the survey 37% of the surveyors believed that music was mainly used after an argument, but it was also tied with the answer choice when they are bored. This is helpful because if they believe that music is mainly used after argument, showing that they use it as an escape from what went on in the argument. The fact that they also use it when they were bored is also helpful because that means no matter how some one is feeling they will resort to music.

Conclusion                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 My conclusion from my research is that many people listen to music every day. That no mater what genre of music that the teens listen to many believed that the music was still positive outlet. The ones who did not believe music was positive all the time were also from a variety of genres such as hip hop, pop, country and also just the ones who listened to all music. I believe the point I was making was proven since 81% of the surveyors agreed that music was not a cause in teenage depression.  If 4/5ths of the surveyors agree that is over half and I believe it does support my research. The only different outcome from what I expected was that some teens were unsure ho their friends reacted to music, whether it was positive or negative. They also believed that it depended on the music on how they felt towards the songs.  I can conclude that even though some teens said it depended on the music 81% still said that they believe music was not a cause of depression.

Follow Up

           With my secondary research I would continue to separate the surveyors by music genre but also by age.  I feel as if age groups will show different statistics towards music causing depression. The five questions that should be researched further are “Does the type of music you listen to cause depression?”, “Does age effect ho you react to music?”, “How can not listening to music effect you?” and “Why do people become depressed? “My research question had stayed the same because I am still proving that music does not cause depression no matter what genre of music you listen to, but I had added age in to the future factor. I added age in because adults and children will most likely react to music differently than teens would and it would be interesting to see the outcome.

 

Music is the Way of Life

 

        Everyone has that certain genre of music that they listen to. Whether its Hip Hop or Indies Rock, we all have that preference of music that makes us feel better. Some music has a bad rap for being a cause for depression or anger issues. I do not believe that this is true. Everyone deals with their situations in different ways. I in particular, use music as an escape from reality to for a while. When I listen to music it isn’t the upbeat pop music but more into Sleeping with Sirens and Pierce the Veil more known as Post-hardcore. When I moved from North Carolina it was extremely difficult. My friends were constantly telling me to come back as if it was that simple. Moving into a new place and leaving the people I grew up with was not as easy as one…two...three; it takes time. Not only was I in a new place but I had to also make new friends and learn how to be on my own for a while. When you are the new kid, it makes you feel isolated in a room filled with strangers. I am not one of those people who can just walk up to a stranger and talk to them like I have known them for years because I had not, so I do not have anything to say. I have to get to know people before I can carry conversations with them. During the time on my own, it gets lonely, and the music helps to take that feeling away. Every friend that I lost from moving is a repeated song on my play list. When I lost my old friends, it hurt and listening to music was the only luxury that made me feel better. The songs might not always be the most positive or have happy endings, but they are filled with real emotions that you can relate to. Music will always be there when people are not.

        While researching, I found an article by Amie Ninh called "Study: Are Music-Loving Teens More Likely to Be Depressed". It shows a study on teens by Dr. Brian Primack, and whether music causes their depression or not. In this study you find out that teens resort to listening to music when they are depressed, but you don not find out if the music is what causes depression. And quoted by Primack "At this point, it is not clear whether depressed people begin to listen to music to escape or whether listening to large amounts of music can lead to depression or both."(Ninh, 2011) This says that music is not for a fact a cause for a depression, more just an assumption from others. They completed this test on multiple teams from all over only about forty showing signs of depression which was not prove to be caused by the music. Even, Primack had said it could have just been used as an escape from their worries for a while. Many teens go to music for a sense of freedom and taking it away could just be negative to their well-being. Everyone feels their emotions differently; maybe if there was an experiment that showed how depressed teens were without the music it would be more relevant to the situation. It's quite hard to believe that just listening to a song could make you depressed when you are a very happy-go-lucky person. It's more likely that the sadness that comes while listening to a song is tied to past event or past emotions. As I read in another article, "Why I Can't Stand Christmas" by Maureen Dowd, about a woman who could not stand Christmas because of the struggles it brought her parents and sisters while growing up. Every time a Christmas song would play, it would put her into a negative mood. It was not because the music was negative in any way or the amount of time she listened to the song, just more the fact the memories that are associated with the Christmas music. Christmas songs are simple and joyous. Since I do not have an emotional history with Christmas music, I will not be able to relate to Dowd and her feelings towards Christmas. This article is very helpful to the point I am trying to make, because not many people will feel sad listening to Christmas music if they do not have emotional history to connect it with.

        Music is not a cause for depression. Almost everyone in the world listens to music whether it is a theme song or a song on their play list. Everyone is surrounded by music. Just because it is listened to for multiple hours does not mean it is going to make you depressed. When people are sad or depressed, they tend to want to be alone yet not absolutely alone because at least they have the music there to say the words that they need to hear in that moment that others will not be able to do for them. Multiple people go to therapist to help fix their problems, but if they are constantly going back are their problems actually being fixed? And, if they are not being fixed, why is not therapy on the list of causes for depression? When connecting it to therapy, the fact that music creates depression seems more and more unlikely; when music is a therapy itself. Music helps to either clear your mind or to energize it. It helps to define your character and even help some of us figure out who we want to be in life. We might not be always happy and smiley all the time because that is just not how the world works. Even the happiest people get knocked down. Just because we are down for a while does not mean we are going to be like this forever. But in the meantime, music will be the one who listens to us, understands our problems, and in the end no one is sad about being able to listen to their favorite songs.

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