Free «The Influence of Music and Internet» Essay

It is common knowledge that music influences people differently. It helps us to relax and calm down; yet some types of music can even make people commit suicide. In contrast, Internet seems to have only a negative influence on human psyche and relationships with others. This paper compares and describes the influence of music and internet in such spheres of human life, as personal well-being, interpersonal relationships, and social interactions.

Both music and Internet influence personal well-being. Music can uplift our mood and make us feel relaxed; in like manner, communication in Internet may have the same effect. However, certain types of music, such as rock, heavy metal, and country music may intensify the feeling of human loneliness and desperation and even drive people to suicide (Stack & Gundlach, 1992); identically, Internet does not always promote human well-being. The point is that, unlike music, Internet is not only imbued with themes (information) that can be detrimental to the human psyche but also visual images that intensify negative emotions.

In the sphere of interpersonal relationships, music is more favorable since it does not create a distance between interlocutors; conversely, Internet “slowly erodes communications skills as the infiltration of emails, text messaging, tweeting, and the negative effects of Facebook sweep through mainstream society” (Coles, 2013). Moreover, Internet disrupts the traditional notion of human communication, which presupposes an eye-to-eye contact and exchange with vivid emotions and gestures; in contrast, listening to music, people can communicate and observe a full range of each other’s emotions as well.

In social environments, music also has a favorable effect on the flow of a working process but Internet only hinders the effectiveness of work. There are many examples of workers being hired for their use of social networks in the workplace; instead, there are no examples proving that people get hired because they listen to music while working.

All things considered, Internet seems to influence human personal well-being, interpersonal communication, and social interactions more negatively than music. Imbued with graphic images of violence, Internet estranges people and glorifies “dead” online communication. Although some types of music also do not contribute to human well-being as well, its overall impact in other spheres mentioned is exclusively positive.