You walk into class listening to your favorite song. Everything is right with the world, but then your teacher tells you to take off the headphones and turn the music off.

Some Loy Norrix teachers are starting to crack down on students listening to music during class due to it being a distraction. 

Some Norrix students listen to music all day long during class because it helps them focus. Some teachers, however, feel that the students should only be allowed to listen to music during specific times.

“The only time students should be listening to music is during independent work time,” history teacher Matthew Porco said. “My real frustration is at the start of every class I have multiple students with headphones in…I think that the vast majority of the time you need to be listening 100% of the time to what is going on with the teacher and students, and I don’t think it’s appropriate any other time than independent work time.”

Earlier in the year, the school blocked Spotify but recently it has been unblocked. When it was blocked, students were left with having to listen to music on their phones or not at all and this caused conflict with teachers because of the students on their cell phones.

 “I think that maybe it is the school trying to give a little freedom to the students. Saying ‘Hey, this is your device. Use it at home. We will give you the opportunity to listen to music,’” Porco continued.

According to The Social Shepard Spotify has podcasts and music and because of that, Spotify has become a need for many. So, it may not be a surprise that Spotify had 456 million active users globally in the year 2022. 

Students use platforms like Spotify to listen to music in and out of school for many reasons.

“I listen to music during class because it helps me relax and focus. I find it to be a stress reliever and can see other people using it that way as well,” junior Caleb Jackson said.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation poll, “Listening to music was the most popular side activity for those who balance studying with another action.”

“I listen to music usually if I have nothing else to do, or if there is a free work day, I will find something to listen to. I enjoyed listening to music before Spotify got blocked,” said freshman Thomas Shockey.

The research done by Headphone Addicts shows that “Overall the typical child spends about 2.5 hours every day listening to music, which is a bit less than adults.”

“I think that the reason so many people listen to music during class is because it is the new trend and everyone is getting new AirPods or new Beats. I think that it has always been there, it is just easier now to listen to music and is more popular now,” Jackson said. 

Some people listen to music to shut people out so they focus better on their work, or for other reasons. Many students love listening to music to help them with their everyday lives. 

“I find music as a nice escape and distraction,” said Shockey. “ I’d only ever do it if the teacher wasn’t talking.”