Spotify, and embracing boredom
How astonishingly luxurious it is to live in an age when nearly every song ever recorded is just a tap away. Spotify is a stunning mark of modernity, and absolutely one of the best human achievements. It is a perfect symbol of the abundance and vast wealth we enjoy in the 21st century, and I make a conscious effort to marvel at this as often as I can. Truly the best £10 I spend each month. Praise be to the free market.
Music is a universal joy, bringing people together from all backgrounds. It transcends language, class, age, education. It is an activity accessible to everyone, and has been for millenia. To think that in the past, listening to a song meant a trip to the shop to buy a physical record. And before the gramophone? I shudder to imagine this dark-age, where the only access was live musicians. Spotify is sensational, and I am an avid user.
But recently I’ve been wondering if I might listen to music a little bit too much.
It struck me the other day how reflexively I reach for Spotify when I have an unoccupied period of time. Walking somewhere, on the train, cleaning up – AirPods and music are the default. Generally the only times when I don’t are in the shower, and on my bike. And these are the places that I do the best thinking – new ideas almost always strike me on a cycle home, and I am very prone to Shower ThoughtsTM. These rare music-free moments are where I’ve come up with a lot of blog content, had lots of ideas for student society stuff, and also done my most productive friendship and relationship reflecting.
This kind of ‘generative’ thinking is so valuable, and I really think it’s in my best interests to foster it a bit more than I do currently. But the urge to plug in the tunes is often too much to overcome, especially after a long day, some intense studying, and even more so when I know the ensuing thoughts will be uncomfortable. Recently, I’ve actually ventured into one-AirPod cycling, or bringing my waterproof speaker into the shower. Not good. But so tempting!
I am writing this as a blog post mostly in an attempt to publicly commit; I’ve got to practice what I preach. Today, just before writing this, I resisted the urge and cycled home with just my thoughts to listen to. And it was great! I figured out the structure of this post, and had a pretty huge relationship insight.
I’m reminded of the words of my mother, who would respond to complaints of ‘I’m bored’ with ‘Boredom is good! It lets you be creative’. Child Isha would groan and quickly dismiss this as adult preaching. But like so much other parental wisdom, the older I get, the more I find myself arriving at the same conclusions that they tried to teach me as a kid. So, consider this a commitment to lean into the boredom a bit more. I will start by banning bicycle and shower music, and maybe soon, walks under than 15 minutes. Some really pro thinkers go for musicless runs, but I think that’s a bit much for me. Borderline psychopath behaviour.
I’m also trying to frame this as an exercise in Just Doing Things, and hopefully will start taking some satisfaction in practicing self discipline. But it’s also important to not take this too far – music remains an intense source of joy in my life, and as a self-professed hedonist, what is life if not for these worldly pleasures?