Detractors Warn Against Music Addiction

    By Rick McVicar  

  A few warnings about an addiction to music can be found on the Internet.  While music may have benefits for brain health recovery, these warnings state that there can be too much of a good thing.   

  For instance, a YouTube video showing a speech by “60Second Philosophy” cautions against emotion generated by music that does not include any behavior. After all, music can make someone feel triumphant without doing anything to earn that feeling.   

  The video has sparked keen interest as shown by some of the comments.   

  “I lose a lot of time listening to music.”   

  “It’s making me procrastinate big time.”   

  “When I don’t listen to it for a few days, I get depressed.”  

   “I’ve recently come to terms with my addiction to music and I’ve been fasting from it.”  

  Many comments like these appear to demonstrate how music can get in the way of life’s responsibilities and duties.   

  The philosopher in the video quotes from Allan Bloom’s 1987 book, The Closing of the American Mind. The author is opposed to rock music because of its sexual themes and implications.   

  Bloom’s book was issued again in 2012 by Simon and Schuster. According to Amazon.com, the subtitle reads, “How Higher Education Has Failed Democracy and Impoverished the Souls of Today’s Students.”   

  A review of the book is featured on The Imaginative Conservative website. Bloom is quoted as writing, “This is the age of music and the states of soul that accompany it.”  Bloom found rock music to be detrimental to young people’s souls.  

  The author taught at Cornell University during the 1960s and wrote in opposition to student activism.   

  The article about Bloom is titled, “Six Ways that Universities Corrupt the Youth,”and was written by Richard Bishirjian.   

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