Why do we look for new music less as we get older?

When we are young we like experiment and listen to new music. However, as we get older, we are more likely to strengthen our tastes and get less benefit from them. This doesn’t mean we don’t listen to anything new anymore, but it does mean that we tend to unconsciously set limits for ourselves. It doesn’t happen to all of us, but it’s common. In fact, according to a review conducted in Talk To Timothy McKenryprofessor of music at the Australian Catholic University, there is a scientific explanation for all this.

Of course, before analyzing it, it is worth emphasizing two issues. First, this attraction to new music is not linear. when we are children we love listening to new music and we are very open to it. After, in early adolescence, tastes become more closed, but we listen to a lot of music. later as young people, we listen less, but we again show interest in new music. And finally, as we get older, we become more rooted in what we enjoyed most in past eras of experimentation.

It is not something fixed or inflexible. But it is common, and the causes can be very diverse, according to the studies analyzed by this scientist.

From Social Interactions to Hearing Acuity

The article cites several studies. But there are usually two reasons why we listen to less new music as we get older. First, adolescents and young adults often They use music to communicate. Who has not gone through many urban tribes as a teenager, with all the resulting musical tastes? Instead, as we get older, we begin to stay in more closed social groups. Music is no longer a means of communication, so we do not have such an urgent need listen to new music.

On the other hand, the article points out that everything could be hearing acuity. This explains why older people listen to new music less. Because of your reduced tolerance for loud high frequency sounds, you don’t get as much enjoyment out of what new music has to offer. For this reason, these people stay with what they already knew from years past, when greater acuity of hearing allowed them to enjoy more nuance.

We can still hear new music

As with any other pleasurable stimulus, when we listen to music we like, we get kick from dopamine. It usually follows patterns based on moments we have enjoyed in the past. That is, if we like something when we hear something similar, we will get the same response again. So little by little we form what we understand as our own musical taste.

We can become very closed around this taste. However, we can always listening to new music that also gives us pleasure. There is no age for him. For this reason, the author of this article Talk He gives some advice that can be summarized as opening our minds rather than closing ourselves to just one type of music. Also listen to music regularly.

In addition, the expert advises not to be limited only to listening, but show interest in history. For example, by learning about artists or the history of new music we listen to, we can create new patterns that are also enjoyable.

Thus, even if our tastes are already more than clear, we can continue to enjoy the search for new musical styles. You don’t have to be locked into anything. Not to mention sinful pleasures. There is no better or worse taste, and listening to something other than Verdi opera, jazz or alternative rock shouldn’t make us feel guilty.