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Researchers who conducted focus-group discussions with teenagers from Netherlands have found a “shocking” discovery. Although most teens are aware of the damage that they are inflicting upon themselves by setting the volumes of their music players on high, they generally don’t care. That’s easy to understand, but what I don’t get is why many people are still puzzled as to why this is so. Shouldn’t it be general knowledge by now that most people really do prefer to listen to loud music? It’s the best way to really appreciate music anyway. And although I agree that this will have some bad “side-effects” to the listener in terms of his/her hearing abilities, I find it hard to believe that there is any other way to really feel your music, except through pumping up the volume and blocking out everything else around you.

Parents, doctors, and anyone else who thinks I’m a loose nut for saying they should leave the loud-music listening music lovers alone, consider this: what would you rather have, that your kids are a) locked up in their rooms inhaling toxic stuff and slitting their wrists or b) locked up in their rooms wearing noise-canceling headphones and the volume set to 11? It’s high time someone told you what blasting ourselves with hard rock really and truly means.

In case you didn’t know, listening to music at the loudest level possible is a very simple way to block out all the ambient noise. And isn’t that the reason why most people even care to listen to iPods anyway? To block out everything else around them? Or it could be that a listener wants to escape, and the only way to do that is to entrap themselves in the middle of symphony, to get high on music and aim for personal Nirvana. Who cares about decibels? A kid’s got problems. And decibels aren’t helping. Decibles don’t care about me. So why should I care about them?

And then, having loud music banging in your ears could quite possibly be the “best alternative” to inflicting wounds upon yourself just to “get away from your problems.” You know how those punk/rock emo kids cut up their arms just to show how much of a “rebel” they are? A lot of teenagers I know would’ve done the same, only they’ve found a worthy (and safer) alternative—which is, to just drown out the problems and hate with some music.

OK, maybe that was entirely off the point. But I’m done. You were saying?

Read [Reuters]

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