Dear Dr. Zirpoli,

One of the most important things that students like me use to focus is music. Due to the recent bans on technology through New Providence High School, students aren’t able to access music without their phones or airpods. This causes problems because students are more likely to try to get away with sneaking these devices to listen to this music.  Ultimately, however, this can cause detentions.  There is one solution to this that would help the students while also enforcing the phone ban: the installation of Spotify on school-issued devices. A study done by AARP revealed that people who listen to music in a focused way had better mental well-being and reduced levels of anxiety.

Students are able to escape noisy or very quiet environments through the power of music which helps them focus on their work. For me, sometimes I procrastinate work by saving it for home because I’m in environments where I cannot focus. With the use of Spotify and listening to music, I’m not only able to block out the noise of my peers chatting around me but I’m able to focus and complete my work at an efficient time. In some classes, teachers play relaxing music but for some students like me, personal choice of music is so important to focusing. Personally, I find teachers playing music not very focus-oriented because it doesn’t block out excess noise.  On the other hand,  with your own form of headphones/earbuds, it actually blocks out noise which stops people from distracting themselves through conversations.

You may believe that students will overuse Spotify if it’s installed causing it to be a distraction, which could be a problem, but teachers can limit their use in their respective classes if it is unrelated. For students like me with a study hall, music can be used to help study and focus rather than spend full periods participating in conversations which lengthen the workload later that day.

Also, the installation of Spotify on school issued devices will limit the use of phones by students because they won’t have to use their phone to access Spotify or music. Most students only sneak their phones so they are able to listen to music in school for productivity. If Spotify was installed on school devices, students could just listen to music on their iPads which helps enforce the phone ban. It could also help the airpod ban because airpods are mostly banned because students usually use them with phones. Spotify being installed on school-issued devices will make students start to only use airpods on their iPads instead of sneaking phones.

The installation of Spotify on school-issued devices will be extremely beneficial to students and staff, by reducing the motivation to sneak phones, as well as by helping people who tend to get distracted with an increased amount of noise, to focus instead of having conversations.

Thank you for your time,

Logan Moore

Padnani, Amisha “The Power of Music, Tapped in a Cubicle” New York Times. 11 August 2012

Mehegan, Laura “Music Nourishes and Delights” AARP. 30 June 2020