Schools and homes are filled with unique noises, whether they are distracting students as they discussing their grades or the TV playing in the other room as family members watch a show. Music is a perfect way to block out other noises and allows students to focus more on the task at hand.

“It [Music] does distract you, but what distracts you more than actual music is the stuff happening around you, and music distracts you from that, and it makes you focus on your work better,” freshman Jenny Won said. “If you are listening to a happy energizing song it gets you more hyped to study.”

Listening to movie soundtracks, for example, is often helpful as they are designed to engage the audience while still allowing the audience to focus on what is going on, which is homework in this case.

According to CBS News, “background music improves your mood and enhances perception while working” as “people generated the lowest quality of work — and took the longest to complete — without any music at all.”

However, not all music is beneficial to listen to when doing homework. It is important to have refined song choices that are specified to allow the student to focus on the work and not get caught up by aggressive or energetic lyrics.

“Listening to music is relaxing in the way that it cuts you off from what is happening around you, so it helps you focus as long as the music is not overly loud,” sophomore Leonardo Peña said. “I listen to a lot of Kendrick Lamar, especially his album ‘To Pimp a Butterfly,’ because the beats are very relaxing and the lyrics are not as loud or up in your face.”

It is scientifically impossible to multitask; when people try they face an average of 40% drop in efficiency, according to the Harvard Business Review. Students are wasting time when trying to listen to music and study. As finals approach, students should not be studying with music as it will result in inefficient studying.

According to NPR, “For the most part, we simply can’t focus on more than one thing at a time. What we can do, he said, is shift our focus from one thing to the next with astonishing speed.”

The back-and-forth between focusing on music and work is mentally tiring and wastes time. If tasks are done one-at-a-time, the sense of accomplishment of finishing a task will increase motivation and the work will be done more efficiently.

“Listening to music is not an effective way to study because it distracts from doing work, and if you try listening to music, you end up either listening to the music, or doing work, and not doing both,” sophomore Nicholas Delianedis said.

Music is not only a cause to “multitask,” but is also a distraction from work. When listening to music on a phone, it is easy to be pulled into being using the phone instead of working which causes productivity to drop and affects the quality of work done.

“I just don’t see how something else going on in the background, going into your ear, can make it better for you to focus on what is in front of you, and I personally am someone where I can’t focus, I need complete silence,” literary and language arts teacher Doris Schlothan said.