By the middle of November last year, Atira Gali had already logged 33,500 minutes of music, according to Spotify’s annual review of her listening habits. The 24 year old New Yorker described audio as a nearly constant presence.

“I can’t even do the dishes without my headphones because I just get bored,” Gali said. Her listening begins during the morning commute to her publishing job and usually continues through work, the trip home, evening chores and preparations for bed.

Gali is hardly alone in filling much of the day with music, podcasts or other audio. A poll released in May by Edison Research found that people ages 13 to 34 spend an average of 4.5 hours each day listening to something.

Spotify also sees powerful demand from the youngest listeners. About 56% of the service’s global music streams from January 1 through November 25, 2025, came from Gen Z, according to a Spotify spokesperson.

Researchers are concerned that constant headphone use may carry consequences beyond the hours spent listening. They worry the habit could limit meaningful human connection, reduce awareness of one’s surroundings and interfere with the ability to regulate the mind without continuous stimulation.

For many listeners, headphones are a habit rather than a deliberate message to people nearby. Even so, “people are using headphones to shield themselves from other people,” said Dr. Gloria Mark, chancellor’s professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine.

Richard Davidson, founder and director of the nonprofit Center for Healthy Minds, estimated that 90% of students moving around the Madison campus wear headphones. “Ten years ago, that wasn’t the case,” he said.

Davidson, the William James and Vilas Research Professor of Psychology and Psychiatry, said university life offers students opportunities to meet people with different backgrounds. Headphones can close off those spontaneous encounters before a conversation has any chance to begin.

He has noticed similar behavior in coffee shops, where people often immediately turn to their phones rather than simply waiting. That reflex can eliminate small possibilities such as smiling at another person or talking with a stranger.

Annabel Franklin, 24, recently noticed the contrast while watching an episode of a television show from the early 2000s. A character sat on a bench waiting for someone while simply looking around, without listening to music or checking a phone.

“It’s something no one would ever do today,” said Franklin, who lives in New York. She estimated that she has music or a podcast playing for 12 hours each day, beginning soon after she wakes up.

Experts warn that these routines may contribute to loneliness, which affects as many as 1 in 5 Americans. Davidson said even brief connections between strangers can support wellbeing, but headphones can block those readily available moments from taking place.

Constant listening may also weaken a person’s comfort with silence, boredom and an unoccupied mind. “I think that people have lost the ability to be able to just sit, you know, sit with silence and let their minds wander or allow themselves to be bored,” Mark said.

Davidson said music and phone scrolling can temporarily block unwanted thoughts, emotions and rumination. Yet he called those strategies a kind of false promise because the thoughts can return after the music stops or the activity ends.

A 2010 study found that adults spend approximately 47% of their waking lives not thinking about what is actually happening. Davidson believes that figure has worsened and said, “The average adult is not paying attention to what they’re doing.”

Gali had already begun questioning whether her headphones were making it harder to perform ordinary tasks without music. A few weeks ago, she tried commuting to work without listening because she wanted to feel more present in the world and in her day.

After two days, Gali had spotted signs for four new stores arriving in her neighborhood. “I hadn’t noticed them even though I do the same walk literally every day,” she said. “I think I’m just like head down walking when my headphones are on.”

The risks can also be physical. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, 24% of adults have hearing loss in at least one ear, while sounds at or above 85 decibels can cause lasting damage.