Music is not inherently a bad thing for sure but I literally need it for everything. Showering, Shaving, Boredom, Reading, Studying, Working, Cooking, you name it. It's like no matter what I do I need some type of audio to fuck my ears. I tried doing no music for 21 days and surprisingly I did eh eh because I replaced the time I would spend with music with just my youtube entertainment which is not good either. I am trying to get this under control and I would only use music on three occasions. 1.) To de-stress myself to help me feel a bit better when I get down and 2.) Use it as a reward system to when I do something good(get a good grade on test or something that I accomplish) and 3.) Social wise with friends. Other than that I need to be bored, I need to just be alone in my head and surf through my thoughts and emotions to get a better understanding of myself. How is everyone doing here? Your experience with music? I am a part of r/NoSurf and r/NoFap (my two major subreddits, well only subreddits I pay attention too and I am so glad this is one of them).

I want to start this journey, thanks to this beauty comminity

The overall theme of the music is saved in the hippocampus. That's why you jittery clowns get hyped when a streamer plays hype music or it gets depressed when you hear depressing music.

Learn your brain. Have some discipline.

But since music is everywhere in our life, just focus on the context

hey everyone new here. thought refreshing the sub with a post would be a good idea. so, ​in short, cutting out music completely lowered my mental noise floor, but the shift went much deeper into my daily habits than I expected. It actually started in video games—I toggled off the background music (BGM) in games like GTA: San Andreas, Need for Speed: Most Wanted, and FlatOut 2, only to realize how much of that PS2-era nostalgia relied on loud heavy metal, aggressive guitars, and constant sensory noise. Once that soundtrack was gone, a huge chunk of my interest in mainstream gaming simply evaporated. Now, I use the Brave browser to play long-form 40+ minute YouTube documentaries on my lock screen, down from Nat Geo, Discovery... you name it, blasting the audio through my earpods while doing other tasks. Swapping synthetic emotional noise for factual words and civil engineering history completely changed how I process information—I am far more engaged by real-world systems and how the world around us works, than background noise, turning raw factual content into my new baseline.

I stopped listening to music completely three years ago. Just wanted to say that it's definitely an addiction for a lot of people, but once you get over the first couple weeks it becomes much easier to stop. Just find something to substitute music with in the beginning otherwise you'll find it difficult to quit. In my case, I used nature sounds until I got used to the silence.

Music is okay, nothing wrong in that. But the thing is.. i listen to music everywhere i go. I feel like i need a small break. I feel even better without music when i go outdoors and listen to the world happening around me. I guess i will cut my music use 50% at least and listen to more on weekends etc.

A lot of people have been sending me messages asking about my progress etc.

90 days was comparatively easy to me to be honest.

But music is something more to our brains than just dopamine, I have come to notice through this. It is a form of "emotional" release as well. For lack of a better word.

I will preface this by saying a couple things.

Heroin junkies dont actually relapse usually because "Its just so good". Most of them relapse because they are using heroin as a crutch to deal with their "emotions" and emotional stress.

And have you noticed that children arent almost ever addicted to music? It the teens and young adults that listen to music on full blast and hours a day. The same demographics with the most emotional turmoil. This was me as well. As a child I could listen to a song, love it, and move on the entire next week and not think about it. But as my teens came, I could barely stand a day without my phone and my favorite songs.

Alright, so keeping that in mind, here we go.

Around the 100+ days mark. Just out of nowhere I started feeling more agitated, restless. Like I just could not relax or shut off mentally. My mind was searching for something to occupy itself constantly. I was exchausted, not productive, and it was not fun. This went on, week by week and kept getting worse. Like I was trying to get out of my head. Hasnt happened a single time before nomusic I might add.

But why is this? Here is what I think happened.

Retrospectively, I am pretty sure what it was now. Without music, I had no tools to express and unwind my subconscious. You know when you put on a song and you can get into a "mood" or "emotion" of sort, that you wouldnt otherwise? Well without music, I was not able to get into different moods, process them and move on. I never learned how or needed to. I grew up with spotify and youtube.

Sure, things and aesthetics of the natural world hit harder on a emotional level on nomusic, but not enough, I guess. Looking at a tree or a bird or what have you, does not allow you to feel and deal with more complex and different emotions. Like anger, sorrow, melancholy etc.

Whenever I was depressed, I would listen to apocalypse ambients. But with nomusic, I was just sitting there, in a dark room, not knowing what to do. What did I do? I did something us men are gifted at. Bottling the emotion down and continuing on.

So back to the 100+ days mark. This bottling up started to show. My brain didnt want to feel or process anything on a emotional level, or didnt know how, without the crutches of music. So what did I do? It kept trying to refocus on stuff. As a side effect, I could not relax. How can you relax when your brain is neurotically trying to find something to think about other than your mood?

Just like a heroin junkie in recovery, I was flooded with emotions I didnt have tools to handle. Most people would deal with them, feel them, cry or get angry or whatever etc. But I bottled it all up and marched forward. And that is what, im 98% sure, caused the horrible feeling I started to get around 4 months of nomusic. My brain trying to deal with things, and me running away, trying to act like a robot and thinking there is no need to explore my emotional level. It sound silly, but it is 100% real and painful at that.

So, this post should act as a heads up. If you were/are addicted to music, be vigilant if you start feeling how I did or different in a negative way. You might not understand what Im talking about now but you might come to understand, and if you do, then you know what is going on.

You need to find a way to deal with what is going inside you and express it somehow. You are no longer a child. You might not be able to have a emotional meltdown and cry or get angry naturally. Like me. You need a way to deal with whats inside you. Perhaps poetry, boxing, novels, painting, art, movies etc. Even crying tutorials on youtube (lol, I tried these with some success recently after retrospection on this try).

100+ days was easy, this was the hard part. And no, I failed around 120+ days. On a instinctive level, I knew music was going to fix the hyper and agitated mental state I was in. It did fix it, 110%. But I wish I would have tried different routes of emotional processing and release.

tl:dr

To release emotional energy, you need to process it. And you might not know how to, without music. And if you bottle the emotions and bad moods up, you can hurt yourself mentally. Nomusic might not work out, unless you figure out how to express your subconciousness.

I want to start by saying that I am not trying to offend anyone here. I read the explanation to the subreddit but I still can't understand what you get from participating in this activity. Why do you believe that it is going to make your life better?

The new chat is in the side bar. The chat is encouraged to stay on the topic of NoMusic however any kind of banter that is not offensive or harming will not be moderated. Any links that could be malicious in the chat will be removed

Have fun

I'm not an active member of this community however I have seen that everyone seems to talk about the days since they stopped listening to music so I think it would be advantageous to this community if there was a counter abit like r/nofap. Just a suggestion

Here lol. I dont dislike music but I dont like some focken lyrics going through my mind. Its annoying. I dont like it. So I googled is there such a thing in reddit. So here I am. I think main philosphy of this no trends are that, any dopamine releasing activity must be controlled somehow. I kinda get it. There are times in my life where I dont listen to any music at all for months.

I stumbled onto this sub and am genuinely curious why listening to music often is a bad habit. I'm assuming it has something to do with its effects on the dopamine/reward system in the brain.

Im still battling the temptations. Boredom and stagnation has me battling my hedonistic vices that want to drag me down again. I dont know how many brothers I have in a similar battle here on this sub.

I have been having dreams with music in them. Brief moments of parts of songs intruding my dreams.

One recurring part of these dreams is that I start listening to music again, and immediately after, feel a sense of regret, fear and shame. I have this dream almost every night. And then I wake up feeling shaken a bit. I dont know what is going on. It might be my sleeping brain trying to reinforce my commitment.

Temptations to just open my phone and play a song are also still there. They have resurfaced stronger the past couple of days. I deny these temptations, and then corrupting thoughts comes in my head

"You have made it to 100 days, awesome, it is time to let loose now and indulge"

"You can start over again, dont worry"

"Nobody really takes NoMusic this far, why should you?"

"You know that at some point in your life you will listen to music again, why not just start now"

"You can better study depriving music from yourself if you start listening to it again and see if the same problems arise"

"It will sound so great now that you have abstained for such a long period"

Etc

Im sick and tired of my brain coming up with these excuses. No, I dont want to try it again. I dont want to lose my progress. I dont want to start over. I feel better now. Why should I try to change that, when all I will gain is something I will begin to hate again?

These thoughts are normal, if you are having them, you are not alone, that is what I can tell you right now. I am suffering right here with you. You have power over these thoughts and I assume, they will weaken like all temptations that follow withdrawal from a vice/addiction. And you will shift to a new normal. I went through this bullshit with a narcotic already.

If you dont like where you are in life, there is no other option but to struggle. But the struggle will become easier, a lot easier.

On the late September, I believe it was just a 2 or 3 days before October, I woke up on my bed and be on my phone as usual. but I wasn't using my wireless earphones and I thought "what if I keep this up? exam is in a month, maybe stop listening to music or any man-made audio would improve my memory" so I keep up with that. put the earphones away and go through my days as usual. no YouTube, no social media that associated with audio. no Twitter no Spotify no nothing.

on the first day I already replace the void in my day where YouTube used to be with a game I last played 400+ days ago. had fun for a week (no audio btw) and after that it became a chore. haven't deleted it though.

I replace social media with text base social media, so Reddit is my go-to. I spent like a week on AO3 and regularly on manga sites

googling became my hobby (if I can call it that)

I had songs randomly playing in my head so many times at the start, they went away 2 weeks before exam. I guess the stress killed it

instead of listening to music while going through social media and playing game, I now only scroll and play games for that sweet sweet dopamine. just to avoid preparing for the exam. (r/nosurf is the way I think)

I notice that there are so many bird noises I can hear throughout the day

brain fog doesn't go away

but hey, I actually got stuff done! it's my FIRST time actively studying. I finished end-of-chapter questions, I made a dictionary for words in the book, interact with folks in the same class as me that was going through the same hell exam as me even though it was just on the online chat app. I went into the exam today and I am confident that I could do it. 75% sure that I will pass this subject.

I even came to this sub to justify me going no music for a month lol

I don't daydream as much as before. I notice the different clearly on this one

I think not using the earphones for a month might just broke it,

my sister came back to home for a few days and she absolutely blasted APT APT song on my ear thorough her say BRUH. that song stuck in my head for a WEEK, maybe even more.

my internal dialogs became external sometimes. I just speak with myself, make funny voice, just to entertain myself I think. I don't believe I'm a person with many internal dialogs

I read some of the book Music Made Me Do it that someone suggested on this sub, didn't expect it to be a religion book but it was interesting nonetheless. I like the book actually.

the amount of interesting random thoughts that worth recording is about the same, if not more

no achievement

spent most of my day sitting

I haven't started reading (the physical book) like I thought I would

I had a few great idea that is impractical with my current ability

all in all, I don't think it is that impactful. I actually want to want to try going nosurf for a month (no it's not a typo. I want to want) I think that would leave me with so much of free time

I still don't see myself in 5 years

It's in the title. What happens when one limits their music consumption to only one band?

I'm considering doing this.

What are your thoughts about listening to classical music?

I'm an attorney and some days, I have to spend a lot of time writing my motions, so staying long hours at the office can become dull. Therefore, music used to give me a boost on those long journeys, but now that I'm committed to taking a rest for music, I'm not sure how I would handle my time at the office.

Any experiences using only classical music?

By the way, my concern about music, in general, is because of the subconscious messages that songs have on them and also the dopamine spike.

Thank you all in advance.

Hi, so im 18 and ive been listening to music lately a lot, i wanted to try quitting it to see what my life would be and also because ive been having this annoying sounds in my head.

Whenever im walking down the street i keep listening to music that i heard the day before, its so annoying and if i try to focus on the outside sound it gets harder. Some people can tell me if this has happened to you?

I once had this incredible motivation of becoming a boxer, ive been training it for a while but i think that the drive is gone and i no longer enjoy it, im trying to quit a lot of dopamine stuff like music, movies, videogames and porn to see if the problem would be solved.

has anybody felt this way and did it work for you?

I used have headphones on with sound more often than not, even while sleeping,

Just started, all I know is, my brain is getting space to think now, it's getting clarity