This year’s long-awaited Spotify Wrapped dropped on Wednesday, Dec. 4, and like always, it prompted people worldwide to message their friends, share their Wrapped online and flood social media with their thoughts and opinions.
Though trending musicians and viral songs may come and go, one statistic that has remained consistent across Spotify’s summary is the number of minutes listened, representing the total number of minutes you spent listening to Spotify that year.
This year, my number totaled 67,838 minutes, consistent with my 67,604 minutes from 2023. I am a Spotify girly — if I’m walking to class or commuting to work, I’m listening to music. If I’m reading my book in bed, I’m listening to music. If I’m studying or doing work, I’m listening to music. I have my earbuds in for what feels like at least eight hours a day.
There are 1,440 minutes in a day and 525,600 minutes in a year. My grand total of 67,838 minutes listened for the year equates to 47 entire days that I was listening to music this year. Wow.
Keep in mind that the first music streaming platform was invented in 1999. Just 20 years ago, people would probably drop their jaws at the ability of almost anyone to listen to millions of songs with just a few taps on a touch screen, let alone the fact that they listen to so much music that it accumulates to weeks of listening in just one year. My friend said someone she knew listened to over 200,000 minutes — that’s more than 138 days of music.
Naturally, I took to TikTok and came across one video of a user stunned by the fact that people listen to 70,000 minutes a year and they only racked up 29,000. One of the top comments caught my eye: “People dont fw pondering in silence anymore.”
It got me thinking… Is it true?
I automatically slip in my AirPods when I travel, when I have breaks in my day, when I go to start a project… It’s a constant. The idea of going about my day without my songs in the background feels kind of uncomfortable. What would I think about in all that silence?
Music doesn’t necessarily stop my inner thoughts, but it does divert them a bit, enough that it probably has affected my brain chemistry. In addition to music, in our digital age, we are rarely alone with our thoughts; there is a consistent supply of ready-to-access stimuli like social media, movies and television.
In 2022, Jenna Carl, Chief Medical Officer at Big Health, told HuffPost that “background noise may be used in an attempt to distract from or avoid unpleasant emotions and thoughts.” A study published by Science found that people would literally rather electrically shock themselves than be left alone with their thoughts.
Music or other noises stimulate the brain enough to distract from potentially unwanted thoughts or feelings. While noise may be a good temporary diversion, it’s not healthy to avoid silence. It pulls our attention away from things we might want to focus on, and over time, we might become too comfortable with habitual noise exposure.
Noise pollution is already a constant problem, especially for students in cities like Boston. Noise pollution is any unwanted or disturbing sound that can interrupt daily activities like sleeping or working. It’s hard to find a moment of peace and quiet, so intentionally listening to noise can cancel out my surroundings.
However, background noise can disrupt concentration and affect people’s physical health, according to Science America. Ambient noise can exacerbate “stress-related conditions” and make overall stress worse.
I didn’t mean for a statistic on my Spotify Wrapped to become such an introspective topic. Still, I wonder if blocking out time in my day for intentional silence might actually benefit my brain and stress levels. I feel as though relearning the ability to do work in silence will increase my attention span, which has shrunk tremendously from the digital age. Who knows? Pondering in silence might be good for me.
It might decrease my minutes listened to in my 2025 Spotify Wrapped, but it’s certainly something I’ll keep in mind in the new year.