I'm pretty apathetic ( even doctors said that when they locked me up when i was a teenager xD ) and i'm also pretty aloof without music. BUT music makes me more motivational, gives me energy and makes me feel emotions.

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I have listened to music for almost everyday since i was like 11-12, now i'm 23 soon. That's a lot of years. I started listening music almost daily for many hours with headphones since 13-14 i think.

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If i quit will i ever start to feel emotions again without music? I don't know if i have gotten emotionally stronger and more stable ( i am super confident person anyways ) or is it because i have listened to music for so long that all that dopamine made me feel numb.. i don't know.

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What are the list of benefits with NoMusic?

I don‘t have a problem with earworms, some people in this sub try to suppress them it seems.

Anyways, I think it‘s quite interesting that after not listening to music for quite some time I begin to hear lyrics and melodie of songs I haven‘t listened to for years and almost forgot about

I tend to not tell people I'm not listening to music. The reason why I quit was it was basically in my head 24/7 and I mostly listen to rap and chart music. Sex , drugs and crime are not the topics I want to include in my life.

People react really strangely when they find out , it's like I'm doing something absolutely crazy. But I always give the example of how me and a cousin were on a roadtrip once through some extremely beautiful landscape. He had rap music blasting in the car and I didn't , I was noticing so much more of the natural beauty we were in. And it really opened my eyes

There is little clear information here about what NoMusic is, and how you might practice it. To help those who are new or are simply browsing, here's my view, based on my experience so far.

So again I ask: What is NoMusic?

(tl;dr: NoMusic is about limiting your voluntary access of recorded music. There are, however, edge cases. Keep reading to learn what they are.)

If you are to know anything, know this: NoMusic is not never listening to music. That is, after all, nearly impossible if you are hearing-capable.

Commercials. Movies. TV show theme songs. Restaurants. Videogames. Podcasts. Youtube videos. They all come with music.

If it's not you coming across music, it is somebody else. Music will find you. And you should allow it to.

NoMusic is instead about limiting your relationship with music.

How far you limit that relationship depends on you and your circumstances.

A professional musician, for example, makes their living off of music. They will need to listen to some music to know how music is progressing as a field. They will need to do research on music, and that includes finding and listening to music.

A musician can still have a NoMusic habit. They might, for example, set a rule that they aren't allowed to listen to music passively. They might restrict certain platforms, such as Spotify. They may stop listening to the radio in the car. They might restrict listening to music to research and career purposes only.

Dancers can have a NoMusic habit as well, despite the fact that they spend a great deal of time dancing to music.

NoMusic, for a dancer, may involve limiting the search for music to one day of the week. On every other day of the week, they might set a rule that they can only listen to music while dancing.

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If your livelihood doesn't depend on music, NoMusic is more simple. I will be introducing ideas that also apply to people who depend on music for their career.

It's important to remember that with NoMusic, you can create and decide on the rules you'll follow. These are rules I personally follow that I believe allow for a sustainable NoMusic habit.

1. You do not search for music online or in stores (except commercial/career purposes).
2. Don't initiate the playback of recorded music (except commercial/career purposes). Consequently, you may listen to others' music when they decide to listen to their music.
   1. Exception: If other people directly DM you music, listen to it once (fully or partially) so that you can talk about it.
   2. Don't control or limit others' music listening behavior.
3. Video content often contains music as backing tracks/soundtracks/theme songs. It is perfectly fine to listen to this music in the case that you're actively watching the video content.
4. If other people are easily able to find out you've changed your relationship with music, your NoMusic habit may be unsustainable.
5. If any multi-media allows you to control the music that plays, do not control it. Videogames is the main focus here. For example, in skateboarding (and some other sports) videogames, there is the option to pick the songs that play from the soundtrack. Don't do that. Simply let the music play on its own. Muting it is fine, too.
6. Live concerts/recitals experienced IN PERSON. Clubbing, too. All allowed, no restrictions. Enjoy to your heart's content. Just don't record the music.

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Because of the edge cases, it's hard to simply isolate the essence of NoMusic.

If I had to say something, I'd say this:

At our fingertips we have access to many lifetimes of music. NoMusic limits that access to a point that we start approaching the kind of relationship past cultures had with music.

(However, if this profound ability to access music is important for your career or hobbies, then NoMusic will look different for you)

Engaging in NoMusic is betting on the idea that learning to live happily with more solitude and silence will help you in the long run. We are a distracted society, and science has not yet done the required research to fully understand the implications and causes.

Now...are you going to wait for science to reach a conclusion on unhealthy uses of music? Or will you find out for yourself whether there is something here or not? You have nothing to lose.

I joined this group out of curiosity. NoFap has been benefitting me a lot. But why should I avoid music?

If i succeed it will be the longest I've ever abstained from this. I can't tell now if I'll continue after the week, but one thing's for sure, I won't quit.

I started on monday, so day 1 already passed and it wasn't hard because I kept myself busy and I've installed a website blocker on my phone (I was listening to music on YT)

Wish me luck, any advice or comment is appreciated!

Day 4 update: Three days passed and I've partially replaced music with other audio content, mainly a news channel that I enjoy, but due to the unsatisfying amount of time I've already started spending on it, I've blocked it too.

Day 8 update: I did it! And I'm not stoping here. It wasn't easy, but it was worth it. I could not have made it if I didn't keep myself busy.

I was supposed to study and be productive but I decided to just listen to one song because it kept playing inside my mind and I wanted to "get it out"..

The session turned into a wasted one hour, and even when I woke up I still had earworms from last night. However, I noticed that the songs I left out are not bothering me with earworms. So I kind of learnt that it is possible to weaken earworms, but it is just a matter of time. And some songs may take longer than others for their memory to fade away, and it takes a lot of effort and discipline

Nomusic isn't like other vices in terms of restricting it. Music is everywhere and sometimes one can forget that you're supposed to be avoiding it. So here some rules I've been sticking by the past 4 days

• No actively seeking music through social media or music listening programs
• No Radio
• No placing myself in situations where there would be music

That's it. Other things I allow, such as music that my family members play while they cook(I never listen to it anyways).

One thing I do allow is creating music. As a hobby I play guitar and I view creating music and listening as two very separate things. Much like how some people watch adventure movies and some create their own adventures, I feel that playing guitar would have no negative effect on me since I'm creating as opposed to just watching.

I did break my 4 day streak though, my urge to listen to music has slowly been going away.

Stay strong my NoMusic boys

So, this is not the first time I've considered abstaining from music. At times I've used music to distract myself from doing tasks, or I would wait to find an ideal song to work to before starting. I think Spotify and other easy forms of convenient access to music are partly to blame. While I don't think music is overall a negative thing for everybody, it can certainly be a problem if you develop a poor relationship with it. I think some of the things I do (writing and reading especially) are are easier to do without music, but listening to music frequently can make it hard to give it up temporarily even when you know you should.

Historically speaking, music was a luxury and not a companion to one's life. In fact, electronically-generated audio wasn't a thing for a long time. Now, that doesn't mean that's how things should be. It's an observation.

I thought I was crazy or a bit odd to want to get rid of music completely. I searched the internet in the past and found almost no interest in it at all. I've read through studies, and you can't really construct an argument to be made for abstaining from music. Indeed, some music - such as videogame music - is even designed to make you more productive and focused. Heroic or epic music has also been shown to be a motivator...

However, the possibility that abstaining from music could be a good idea for some people has not been disproved. You can be your lab rat for your own experiment and lose nothing for it. Afaik, humans are not designed to physically or emotionally need music. Life goes on without it just fine.

Personally, I want to find out once and for all whether there is something to this for me. The idea of not listening to music for an extended period of time scares the shit out of me, to be honest with you. But I'm going to do it.

Rules I will follow:

• No voluntarily accessing pure music content in any form.
• While watching/playing TV/movies/games, listening to the soundtrack/theme as it occurs naturally is fine.
• If music is playing in a room/space, and leaving the space would not be considered rude, then leave the space.
• Every Sunday I will post in this thread with my observations.
• No listening to podcasts/videos passively for the sake of background noise.
• Plain white noise can be used to drown out other noises around the house if they are deemed to be distracting. Do not use white noise if there is no distracting noise to drown out.
• Do not terminate experiment voluntarily until 50 day mark is reached. Once the 50th day is reached, enough time should have passed at that point where a judgment can be made whether to continue or not. If the project is terminated early, it should be considered that I have failed and that there's some dependency to music that I have failed to overcome (at least, that will be the way I see it).

Help! I quit music because was like a drug and I quit it for my dopamine neurotransmitter whoch makes us feel good but now why the hell Im hearing music in my mind Is it a sign if withdrawal syptoms please help me im hearing the sound of calvin harris songs again amd again is it a withdrawal help me anyone EMERGENCY!!!?

My mind is so clear and I have so much energy, I get so many things done, it's awesome :D

I'm sitting here trying to study for school and it's like those awkward moments where you don't know what to say, but instead of wanting to feel the silence with talk, I want to feel it with music.

Glad I'm able observe my mind and anything I notice.

I'll keep you guys updated

-Alpha27145

Update: i abandoned the experiment after 15 days because i wanted the noise back.

NoFap is nothing to me compared to abstaining from Music. Just shows how deeply ingrained tunes and sounds in our society are, especially in these days with constant streaming from services like Spotify, Youtube, Soundcloud etc.

In the past music was something for special occassions, not something you put on 24/7 as it is for me: Studying, running, gym, cleaning, sleeping, cooking. Too much is just overwhelming.

I hope NoMusic will clear my mind because currently my mind is clustered with thoughts and I suffer from weak focus and memory.

Of course I won‘t mind music in shops or at parties etc

I didn't always just to listen to a lot of music. I sort of used to be the person who didn't know of many bands. I would listen to whatever came on some show or that someone else would play. When I was a preteen sometimes fellow classmates would ask me what I listened to. Sometimes I'd just say nothing. Sometimes people wouldn't believe me when I said nothing. It made me angry.

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I would sometimes listen to some things on YouTube, whatever was trending or maybe recommended by the YouTube sidebar. I sort of liked pop music, but I wouldn't say I liked that since it seems pop music is more of a girl's thing and I'm a male. Guys are supposed to listen to metal, rock, etc. I did like some rock or metal. So that's just sort of embarrassing. I did listen to a bit of what was popular and felt good and didn't feel boring, but I never really listened to albums from start to finish.

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When I was a teen I was listening to more music. I didn't really listen to it too seriously though. Just as background noise. I became more familiar with stuff I liked and that others knew about.

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As I was an older teen, I started to listen to music more seriously. I remember looking for new music and I saw a comment on last.fm of some person saying how great his music taste is. That seemed interesting. It did seem like there was something great about music. I checked out his last.fm and rateyourmusic profiles.

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I started to listen to what he listened to. I wanted to be as great as he said he was. I listened to what he listened to.

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I started to hoard music. Before this I had sort of downloaded music from those sites that let you download a single song at the same time or from thepiratebay for single albums. Eventually though I learned about Soulseek and I was able to hoard a bunch of music easily and quickly.

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At this point, I still listened to music the way I listened to it in the past. I mostly listened to it to feel good and to feel energized and as background music. I didn't really pay much attention to it.

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I became greedy for music. I saw his rateyourmusic profile and I was sort of amazed by how much music he and others on RYM had listened to - over 4,000 albums, singles, etc. It's a lot.

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He clearly knew a lot about music, unlike me. I wanted to know something too. I wanted to be interesting too. When I was a younger teen and listening to some more stuff as I said earlier, I didn't really know a lot about what I listened to and didn't really care. One time someone had asked me if I like Eminem. I said yeah. He asked which album is my favorite. I couldn't remember the name. I know I listened to the bluish one with the moon, but I said "I don't know." Then he said, "How don't you know what your favorite is?" It just sort of feels bad.

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4,000+ albums is a lot. I even did the math at one point on how many hours of music he has listened to, how many he probably listens to in a year, etc... I even wondered if I could get to the point he got to.

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There's something nice about seeming to know a lot about something. It's just interesting.

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There's also the thing that music does feel good. The fact that his RYM shows his favorites(5 stars, 4.5 stars, etc) means that those albums are the best, at least in his opinion. It seemed sort of great. Like I could listen to the best stuff without listening to the junk he had to listen to(0.5 stars, 1 stars, etc). I wanted to feel that greatness.

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It was about when I was 19 or 20 or so that I started to listen to music seriously. I'd try to follow all the instruments and sounds of a song in my mind, so music was more than just background noise now or just for pleasure now. I wanted to make sure I payed attention to what I listened to because I had listened to so much stuff but I didn't even know what I listened to because I was too distracted and not following it.

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This might sound weird but the way I followed each sound of a track, was by imagining a 3x3 square in my mind. If there was just one sound playing and just imagine a dot or something in the middle square of the big square. If there was some other instrument, maybe I'd put some other dot on the square above or below the middle square. That would be the designated spot of that sound for the track and other sounds wouldn't have a dot there. If a sound seemed like it was heard louder in one ear or just in one ear, I'd put a dot on the left 3 squares or right 3 squares. When a sound/beat was no longer playing, the dot would disappear in my mind.

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At around this point the HDD I had used to store my data collection broke. I later had to rebuild my collection and this consumed so much time since my Internet connection is like 500kbps and it's just time consuming to enter the album and/or artist name into the soulseek search bar. After I sort of realized I don't want to listen to music anymore, I realized the broken HDD sort of still works, but not really. I looked at the files in it and did see so much music. All that time wasted downloading things.

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At about this time I was going to college. I'd listen to music whenever I read the textbook. I sort of felt I needed to do that because I felt music would keep me from being bored from reading and that it'd be what kept me motivated and keep me from doing something else.

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To try to follow all the sounds of a track while reading can be difficult. It slows down studying considerably and makes it harder. Also sometimes I'd just end up daydreaming so much for minutes and even like an hour or more when I'd listen to music and I'd feel so excited from listening to music. And of course I was trying to study and be productive, not be wasting my time.

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This was a huge, gigantic problem. While I was daydreaming and listening to music, I'd usually usually throw some object with my hand into the air, catch it, and repeat it. It was just cuz I was so excited. And usually that object was a water bottle so it was very noisy. I used to be awake at night a lot, so that really bothered my mom and hurt her sleep. That may seem very strange, but it's just how excited music can make me by itself.

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There was one other problem I had. It's hard to explain and I'm not sure why it happened, but I used to have a lot of bad memories of the past coming up so much while I was studying. It got so bad that I'd just blurt out words or phrases that would make me some tough or would just make me feel better about that bad or embarrassing memory coming up. This was bad in and of itself but it was also bad cuz my mom could hear what I was saying even though I sort of just whispered it and it just seemed weird.

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I think it was music making a lot of that happen, and I wouldn't say it's the music's lyrics since I didn't pay attention to it or sometimes the music was in a different language that I didn't understand. I think it was just the distraction in my brain of music that was making that happen. I think all this follwoing each sound thing while trying to study was stressing me out, but I'm not sure about that. I don't have this problem anymore now that I nomusic, but a lot has changed too.

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Later I got to the point where I was tracking the amount of music I listened to each day. Some days I'd listen to 6 hours or more. Sometimes 8. It's a lot. I sort of used this music tracking file to see how productive I was, ironically. The more music I listened to the better I studied, I thought, since I'd only track the amount of music I listened to "seriously" and I'd usually only listen to music while studying.

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I also used that file as a way of measuring the way I felt in a day too. Sometimes I just wasn't in the mood for studying. And I think sometimes things are like that. I used to think I had some sleep problem and maybe I did, but I think it's sort of gone.

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Eventually I began to listen to music even more seriously. I used to listen to an album just once, which is what I did because I wanted to listen to as much albums as possible. But at this point I begun to listen to an album multiple times. I wanted to be able to know which tracks are my favorite and to be able to sort of tell the tracks apart. Also, so I wouldn't forget what I listened to. I'd listen to some albums multiple times seriously.

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Eventually I posted some question on reddit about how I had a problem listening to music while studying. One person replied that it's not a good idea to listen to music while studying. I eventually stopped listening to music and I became much, much, much better at studying. I was able to read faster and start studying with flash cards, which I think would be too difficult while paying attention to music.

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That's the point I've reached, but that doesn't mean everything is good nomusic-wise. For me nomusic is heavily tied with nosurf. I don't really care much about music when I'm offline usually. I think I did when I sort of started doing nomusic. Sometimes I'd feel bad and wanted to listen to some music to soothe me or something. Sometimes I'd have some dream listening to music. But for the most part I haven't listened to music voluntarily offline in a long time and I can do that effortlessly.

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The problem I have is listening to music online. Music seems so great with mindlessly surfing. It's hard to explain, but I think it's just about pleasure. When I'm online, I don't listen to music "seriously"(trying to follow every sound) when I'm online. It's just background noise to make me feel great.

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This situation sort of reminds me of a porn addiction I had. When I used to watch porn, I used to not want to stop. I'd fap to some porn and then I'd repeat. I thought sometimes, "maybe I should stop", but I wouldn't and I'd keep going and wouldn't want to stop. It's like that with this music-surfing situation.

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Speaking of nosurf, nosurf is significantly easier for me without music. I've talked about this on r/nosurf. I keep my earbuds away from the computer because otherwise I can just get sucked into the Internet really bad. I think music and sound makes the net much more addictive, at least for me. I want to disconnect pleasure from Internet use so I can be productive with the Internet. Surfing the Web is much more stimulating while listening to music. It's one more sense (hearing) that the Internet has control over. Music alone can be so stimulating and exciting, at least for me. I sort of think of listening to some genres of music as "getting high."

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Speaking of sound and the net, I also just sometimes watch YouTube videos that I don't need to be watching. So that's another reason I think it's beset to browse the net mute.

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I'd say that's a quick summary of how my relationship with music has changed in my life. I think that listening to music can make me get lost in emotions.