Getting work done can be hard. Distractions are everywhere, especially as a part of college life. Your roommate has friends over and the dorm walls are paper thin. The library isn’t much better, even on the quiet floors. It might even be too quiet. Starbucks, on the other hand, is too loud. On top of it all, homework is not exactly what you want to be doing on one of your few days off of class. Still, these assignments aren’t going to finish themselves. You have to get started at some point, and a solid place to start is with those distractions.
You can’t get rid of your roommates. It’s nice to switch up your workspace with public spaces like a coffee shop or a library, but it can be hard to deal with the sounds that come with it. You can’t control the noises in these environments, but you can control what you hear.
I have found that the best way to deal with these aural distractions is music.
Music can drown out, or just nullify, distracting sounds. But more importantly, it is something you can control. You can pick your songs and adjust the volume. It is incredibly freeing to take back control over your sensory environment, even if it’s just the aural. Changing your soundscape changes more than just the audible–it can transform the way you think and feel. It can make you more focused, more productive, and more relaxed. This is the best state to be in when you want to get stuff done.
You might be inclined to listen to your favorite songs. They’re probably already in your playlists, ready to go for when you’re going from class to class, flipping through your phone, and driving home. However, they might not be the best for doing your homework. If you’re constantly going back and forth between songs in order to find the one you actually want to listen to, you’re not really working. Make a conscious effort to not skip (too many) songs. Try to accept that not every song is exactly what you want, because you’re not really listening to it when you’re working. It’s there to help block out everything else that keeps you from studying.
If you absolutely need to find the right song, try instrumentals instead. Lyrics can be distracting, especially if you just want to follow along. There are instrumental tracks for just about every song on YouTube. There are also entire genres of music for studying and relaxing available on YouTube. Searching for “study music” or “relaxing music” will get you videos, playlists, and live streams of a variety of songs. The most popular playlist for studying music is called “lofi hip hop,” and it’s a great place to start.
YouTube isn’t for everyone, though, because videos use up a lot of data. Spotify Premium is perfect for this. It has an offline function where you can download the songs you want to hear ahead of time and listen to them without any data or Internet. Also, college students can get three months of the Premium service for free, and then keep the subscription for $4.99 per month, which is 50% off the original price. This comes with a Hulu and SHOWTIME subscription as an added bonus. Spotify is my go-to for listening to music while studying and doing homework, regardless of where I am.
If you don’t a paid subscription, there are other ways to listen to music ad-free (because ads are just another distraction). Since YouTube has practically every song and every variation of said songs, it can serve as a glorified Spotify Premium when you use it with an ad-blocking extension. That way, you can listen to whatever you want without being interrupted between every track.
There are other ways to get music and there are plenty of songs and music genres to discover. Do your research and see what’s best for you. Hopefully, this will allow you to take back some control over your soundscape and maybe, just maybe, get your homework done.
Contributed by: Zoe Hwang, Writing Center intern
The Writing Corner 
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