{"id":18077,"date":"2019-09-29T16:59:05","date_gmt":"2019-09-29T16:59:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=18077"},"modified":"2019-09-30T15:14:47","modified_gmt":"2019-09-30T15:14:47","slug":"curious-kids-why-do-old-people-hate-new-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/curious-kids-why-do-old-people-hate-new-music\/","title":{"rendered":"Curious Kids: Why do old people hate new music?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Frank T. McAndrew<\/a>, Knox College<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

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Curious Kids<\/a> is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Why do old people hate new music? \u2013 Holly L., age 14, Belmont, Mass.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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When I was a teenager, my dad wasn\u2019t terribly interested in the music I liked. To him, it just sounded like \u201ca lot of noise,\u201d while he regularly referred to the music he listened to as \u201cbeautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

This attitude persisted throughout his life. Even when he was in his 80s, he once turned to me during a TV commercial featuring a 50-year-old Beatles tune and said, \u201cYou know, I just don\u2019t like today\u2019s music.\u201d<\/p>\n

It turns out that my father isn\u2019t alone.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve grown older, I\u2019ll often hear people my age say things like \u201cthey just don\u2019t make good music like they used to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why does this happen?<\/p>\n

Luckily, my background as a psychologist<\/a> has given me some insights into this puzzle.<\/p>\n

We know that musical tastes begin to crystallize<\/a> as early as age 13 or 14. By the time we\u2019re in our early 20s, these tastes get locked into place pretty firmly.<\/p>\n

In fact, studies have found that by the time we turn 33<\/a>, most of us have stopped listening to new music. Meanwhile, popular songs released when you\u2019re in your early teens<\/a> are likely to remain quite popular among your age group for the rest of your life.<\/p>\n

There could be a biological explanation for this. There\u2019s evidence<\/a> that the brain\u2019s ability to make subtle distinctions between different chords, rhythms and melodies gets worse with age. So to older people, newer, less familiar songs might all \u201csound the same.\u201d<\/p>\n

But I believe there are some simpler reasons for older people\u2019s aversion to newer music. One of the most researched laws of social psychology is something called the \u201cmere exposure effect<\/a>.\u201d In a nutshell, it means that the more we\u2019re exposed to something, the more we tend to like it.<\/p>\n

This happens with people we know, the advertisements we see and, yes, the songs we listen to.<\/p>\n

When you\u2019re in your early teens, you probably spend a fair amount of time listening to music or watching music videos. Your favorite songs and artists become familiar, comforting parts of your routine.<\/p>\n

For many people over 30, job and family obligations increase, so there\u2019s less time to spend discovering new music. Instead, many will simply listen to old, familiar favorites from that period of their lives when they had more free time.<\/p>\n

Of course, those teen years weren\u2019t necessarily carefree. They\u2019re famously confusing, which is why so many TV shows and movies \u2013 from \u201cGlee<\/a>\u201d to \u201cLove, Simon<\/a>\u201d to \u201cEighth Grade<\/a>\u201d \u2013 revolve around the high school turmoil.<\/p>\n

Psychology research has shown that the emotions that we experience as teens seem more intense than those that comes later<\/a>. We also know that intense emotions are associated with stronger memories and preferences<\/a>. All of this might explain why the songs we listen to during this period become so memorable and beloved.<\/p>\n

So there\u2019s nothing wrong with your parents because they don\u2019t like your music. In a way, it\u2019s all part of the natural order of things.<\/p>\n

At the same time, I can say from personal experience that I developed a fondness for the music I heard my own children play when they were teenagers. So it\u2019s certainly not impossible to get your parents on board with Billie Eilish and Lil Nas X.<\/p>\n

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Hello, curious kids! Do you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer? Ask an adult to send your question to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Please tell us your name, age and the city where you live. We won\u2019t be able to answer every question, but we will do our best.<\/em>\"The<\/p>\n

Frank T. McAndrew<\/a>, Cornelia H. Dudley Professor of Psychology, Knox College<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Frank T. McAndrew, Knox College Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you\u2019d like an expert to answer, send it to CuriousKidsUS@theconversation.com. Why do old people hate new music? \u2013 Holly L., age 14, Belmont, Mass. When I was a teenager, my dad wasn\u2019t terribly interested in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":18075,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293],"tags":[558,7003,6689,6786,730,2961,4256,53,592,461],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18077"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18077"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18081,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18077\/revisions\/18081"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}