The Lowe-Down

It could be argued that headphones are a wonderful invention. They make family car trips more peaceful; they remove the tension of late-night television viewing keeping others awake in the home; they have even given rise to silent discos. Combine headphones with the plethora of entertainment platforms now available on various devices and you can escape just about anywhere. The beauty of headphones is that you can immerse yourself in your own private world of music, no matter what is going on around you. No one is disturbed by what you are listening to, and you aren’t disturbed by them. What’s not to like? In fact, full disclosure – I bought my own teenage child a new pair of headphones for Christmas.

But what do we miss out on when we insulate ourselves from the world with our bass boost and noise cancellation? The complex politics of playlists for the long family car trip may have been difficult to navigate but it taught us valuable lessons. We learnt to compromise, to ensure that everyone’s tastes were catered for. We learnt to endure and sometimes even appreciate the song choices of others. And every now and then we would find ourselves sharing a moment of musical joy, singing along to that one song that everyone likes. In short, we learnt to love our neighbour.

And its not just the car trips. For many years we have lambasted and lamented a generation that seem to view everything through their phones. Most of us still do it but we are at least aware that our experience is somewhat diminished by doing so. We seem less concerned by the now ubiquitous earbuds that provide personally curated soundtracks to our every waking (and sleeping) moment. Have we really considered how this might be shaping our lives?

I recently stumbled across a short essay by author G. K. Chesterton entitled, ‘Music, Digestion, and Modern Philosophy’ (first published in the Illustrated London News on September 29, 1923). Chesterton had taken issue with responses to comments in an earlier essay regarding music at mealtimes and in his reply, he laments the shallow nature of what he refers to as ‘modern philosophy’ that holds the material world as preeminent. The focus of his ire is the elevated status of food consumption (digestion) as an end in itself rather than as a means to an end, which he describes as a “materialism or the very muddiest sort of atheism. It has the obscure assumption that everything begins with the digestion, and not with the divine reason.”

If you enjoy Chesterton’s writing, then I recommend reading the whole essay here. (https://theimaginativeconservative.org/2016/09/music-digestion-modern-philosophy-gk-chesterton.html) It is an entertaining read, but for the purposes of this article I am going to appropriate Chesterton’s turns of phrase for my own purposes. Because in reading his century old lament I heard an echo of my concern for the modern approach to headphones.

In (not quite) the words of Chesterton – In our attachment to our headphones there is morbidity and a monstrous solitude. Each individual is alone with their music as with a familiar demon. Diogenes retired into a tub and St. Jerome into a cave; but this hermit uses their own earbuds as their cavern—every individual in their own curated cocoon of personal playlists.

Music is powerful. It has a way of filling in the gaps in thought, feeling, and emotion that words cannot do justice. But when we use music as a defense against the realities of daily life – the mundane, the remarkable, the chaotic and the mysterious – then we rob ourselves of the experience of life in its fullness. When we share in the joy of music together, we are drawn deeper into relationship with others; we find connection in our shared experience; we discover new and unexpected wonders and at times we get a glimpse of what Beethoven called an “incorporeal entrance into the higher world of knowledge which comprehends mankind but which mankind cannot comprehend”.

A good playlist is not an end in itself. Rather, it is the means by which we might share with others a moment of connection to each other and to the creator. “Music gives a soul to the universe, wings to the mind, flight to the imagination and life to everything.” (Plato)

So next time the family piles into the car for a road trip, be daring. Insist that the headphones go away and then create for yourselves a family playlist. You never know what joys it might lead to. (And don’t forget to book your tickets for the next school concert – no headphones required!).

In your strings is hid a music that no hand hath e’er let fall,
In your soul is sealed a pleasure that you have not known at all;
Pleasure subtle as your spirit, strange and slender as your frame,
Fiercer than the pain that folds you, softer than your sorrow’s name.
G. K. Chesterton, “The Strange Music”