Are you a person who is impatiently waiting for Christmas time? Especially to listen that local radio station with nonstop Christmas music. However, This might sound a little awkward because you should brace yourself for some bad news.
According to clinical psychologist Linda Blair, Christmas music on the loop could have certain harmful effects on your mental health, especially for the workers who are employed at retail stores. They listen to the tunes on loop in Christmas season.
“People working in the shops at Christmas have to [tune out] Christmas music because if they don’t, it really does stop you from being able to focus on anything else,” Blair said in an interview with Sky News. “You’re simply spending all of your energy trying not to hear what you’re hearing.”
Furthermore, she believes that Christmas songs can have a psychologically draining effect on customers if they are played prior to the season. “Christmas music is likely to irritate people if it’s played too loudly and too early,” Blair added.
“It might make us feel that we’re trapped—it’s a reminder that we have to buy presents, cater for people, organize celebrations. Some people will react to that by making impulse purchases, which the retailer likes. Others might just walk out of the shop. It’s a risk.”
Why this is bad for the mental health of human? It is due to “mere exposure effect”. According to Dr. Victoria Williamson who is a music psychology researcher, she explains that the first few times you hear a Christmas tune it makes you to the festive mood. However, after that you hear it several times, as in like when you overhear it, you can soon feel like irritating.
This situation is same for all songs in general, this is not only applicable to Christmas tunes.
Here is a Christmas by Mariah Carey. You can listen to this song numerous times and share your opinions with us after you overhear it.
I am a Business Management graduate from the University Of Staffordshire (UK) and a qualified personnel officer who completed the National Diploma of Training and Human Resource development at Institute of Personnel Management (Sri-Lanka).
Apart from my professional career in the field of HRM, I am also a freelance writer of web and business contents.
