From Background Noise to Intentional Care: What College Students' Music Habits Teach Us About Everyday Regulation

A new issue of Music Therapy Perspectives was just released, officially publishing a study I co-authored on how college students actually use music in their daily lives. While the article has been available online for some time, seeing it in the Fall 2025 issue feels like the right moment to pause and reflect on what these findings really mean beyond academic journals.

Here's the short version:

College students don't need more music.
They need more awareness of how music is already shaping their mood, attention, and stress levels.

And honestly? The same is true for most of us.

Music Is Already Doing Emotional Work

In our study, first- and second-year college students reported listening to music daily, often for two to three hours at a time. Most of that listening happened alone (in dorm rooms, cars, or through headphones), primarily through streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music.

When asked why they used music, the answers were strikingly consistent:

Over 90% reported using music to influence their mood
Many used music to relieve stress or anxiety
Others used it to cope with loneliness, boredom, or emotional overload
Music was frequently used as a way to "escape," "relax," or "take their mind off things"

One student summed it up simply: "Just how I feel during the day."

What stood out wasn't just how often students used music—it was how naturally music had become part of their emotional regulation system, even when they didn't consciously frame it that way.

Passive Listening vs. Intentional Listening

Most students weren't sitting down and saying, "I am now using music as a coping strategy." But their behavior told a different story.

Many students reported:

Choosing specific songs or artists because they knew it would create a reliable emotional effect
Matching music to their current mood
Experiencing strong emotional reactions to music, often unexpectedly, multiple times per week

In fact, more than 70% of students said they had a strong emotional response to music in just the previous week, even when the listening wasn't planned.

This highlights an important distinction:

Music doesn't need permission to influence us. It already does.

The difference lies in whether music is background noise that happens to us or a tool we use with intention.

What This Tells Us About Regulation (Not Just Entertainment)

A common misconception is that music is primarily entertainment. But the students in this study used music for much more than that.

They used it to:

Regulate stress
Manage emotional intensity
Fill uncomfortable silence
Support focus while studying
Shape personal identity

Interestingly, only a small percentage explicitly said they used music to "get through difficult times," even though many described exactly that behavior in other ways.

This suggests something important: People often use music for regulation long before they recognize it as regulation.

This Isn't Just a College Student Thing

If you've ever:

Put on certain music while driving to calm yourself down
Used playlists to push through fatigue or burnout
Avoided silence because it felt uncomfortable
Relied on familiar songs during emotionally heavy moments

…you're doing the same thing.

College students aren't unique here. They're just very honest about it. Their listening habits reflect a broader cultural reality: music is one of the most accessible emotional tools we have, but we're rarely taught how to use it well.

Where Intentionality Changes Everything

The research doesn't suggest that students need to stop listening to music or turn every playlist into a therapeutic exercise.

What it does suggest is this: With even a small amount of guidance, people can become more skillful in how they use music to support themselves.

When listeners understand:

Why they're choosing certain music
What effect it tends to have on their body and mood
When music helps—and when it might keep them stuck

…music becomes less about distraction and more about care.

This idea sits at the heart of my work with Music Makes Sense and my book Music for the Heart: music doesn't fix emotions, but it can support regulation, awareness, and resilience when used intentionally.

A Simple Reflection You Can Try

Here are three questions inspired directly by patterns we saw in the study:

When do I reach for music most often—and what am I hoping it will do for me?
Does this music help me stay with my experience, or avoid it entirely?
How does my body feel after listening—not just emotionally, but physically?

There are no "right" answers. Awareness alone can change the way music supports you.

Why This Research Still Matters

College students are navigating high stress, limited access to mental health services, and constant stimulation. Music is already embedded in their daily routines—not as a luxury, but as a lifeline.

This study doesn't argue that music replaces therapy. It shows that music is already doing therapeutic work in people's lives—often without structure, language, or support.

Helping people become more intentional with something they already use may be one of the most humane, accessible forms of care we have.

And that's a lesson worth sharing far beyond a journal page.

Want to explore this idea further?

You can learn more about intentional music use, grounding, and regulation through my work at Music Makes Sense, or dive deeper into how music supports emotional regulation in Music for the Heart.

Music is already part of your life. The question is whether it's working for you—or just filling the space.