this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2025
80 points (91.7% liked)

Ask Lemmy

35657 readers
1225 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, and toxicity are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !askusa@discuss.online


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] sparkles@piefed.zip 2 points 16 hours ago

I’d crumble to dust from sad.

[–] douglasg14b@lemmy.world 2 points 17 hours ago

It'd be a really shitty existence....

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 21 hours ago

It would be pretty devastating, but I'd at least have my memories of music and the ability to feel vibrations. I think I could still get some enjoyment out of playing drums. But it would definitely suck.

[–] Marshezezz@lemmy.blahaj.zone 38 points 2 days ago
[–] snoons@lemmy.ca 31 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I would honestly kms. I'd rather be blind... big props to people who have experienced that and still exist.

[–] jaupsinluggies@feddit.uk 2 points 2 days ago

Naah don't do that. Beethoven went deaf and that didn't stop him. There are other deaf musicians out there: Evelyn Glennie for one. And I've played for a deaf person who said she was able to feel the vibrations even if she couldn't hear them, so she definitely appreciated the performance.

[–] BlueKey@fedia.io 9 points 2 days ago

I love music and almost every time something is playing on my headphones.
If I would go deaf, then songs would continue playing in my head. And then start to decay until only broken fragments loop through my head forever and drive me insane.

Still, I would rather loose my hearing then my eyesight. But lets hope nobody here looses any of it.

[–] gigastasio@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 days ago

Well sir, I have to say I do not like that prospect one bit.

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 4 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I'd be sad but I'd probably still go on. I could still feel it, I could even kinda hear it, too, through my imagination and reading the sheet music.

If I was ever blinded and couldn't see, though? I would end my life pretty quickly.

[–] big_slap@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago

id probably fall into a deep depression. I love music so much

[–] Nemo@slrpnk.net 19 points 2 days ago

Going deaf would be terrible, but at least I'd have the music inside me I've heard before.

Not even being able to hear music in my own head would be... I'm sure I could find a way to live with it, but I'd miss it every day.

I don't know if I could live honestly. Too quiet. I listen to music from 10am to bedtime (if i'm home and not otherwise occupied) then play music in my sleep. Sometimes I watch music videos instead of tv

I look for new music to add to my collection every year and make a playlist for every year. I started purchasing and "purchasing" music again this year and saving it all to a drive.

I love all kinds of music and love to sing. That would be such a sad life

[–] Ludrol@szmer.info 5 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I will grieve for a bit, and I will adapt. Humans can get used to anything.

[–] DeathByBigSad@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Alternatively, use telepathy to mind read other's feeling the music they listen to.

Waku waku

[–] Appoxo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 21 hours ago

Doki Doki Waku Waku ★

i mean thats my true answer, but thinking about it is very sad

[–] LORDSMEGMA@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago

Would put me in a deep deep depression. Just shoot me and get it over with

[–] chosensilence@pawb.social 12 points 2 days ago

i listen to music constantly. it is my passion hobby, my favorite form of art, my special interest. there are over 4600 artists in my library and i’m always visiting new and old sounds. i love music.

i would be devastated. i don’t know. i’m not sure if i could find living bearable.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago

I wouldn't function.

[–] MonsterTrick@piefed.world 6 points 2 days ago

I genuinely don't know how I would live without listening to music, it's my escape from reality. So to answer you question, it would break me

[–] Valo85@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Go bloody mad/sad. The dissatisfaction that comes from losing something you always could do and probably took for granted would be immense. And music doesn't just impact songs.. it would make shows and movies and video games suck too, since they rely so heavily on music to texture scenes and create mood.

[–] Quazatron@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

What's the point of even living like that?

[–] wingsfortheirsmiles@feddit.uk 4 points 2 days ago

Music keeps me going through life, whether it be listening on mobile, on vinyl at home, live at gigs/raves/concerts

I wouldn't survive

[–] falseWhite@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

Am I allowed to learn to play an instrument myself? That's what I'd do

[–] TerraRoot@sh.itjust.works 6 points 2 days ago

Serious genuine trouble, the dopamine I get from new music keeps everyone around me alive.

[–] dotslashme@infosec.pub 5 points 2 days ago

I would be devestated! Music is one of the things that make me feel grounded and without it, my life would absolutely be less normal.

I don't think that could work. There is always a song or a beat playing in my head 24/7. Sometimes something I just heard, sometimes something from years ago, and sometimes its some nonsense I just came up with.

Even if I went deaf, the beat would continue. But I'd be bummed I couldn't listen to new stuff.

[–] kelpie_returns@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

I'd be heartbroken, in a way. I like poetry and am sure I could lean harder into that to get a similar kick, but that can only get so far. Feeling the bass on songs would probably also be a nice compromise, I imagine.

[–] RBWells@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I would be very sad but at least now have heard so much I think it would stick with me, and already get auditory hallucination sometimes, so might be able to imagine it. If you mean deafness.

If you mean some sort of music blindness, like it's only music I can't hear, it never sounds like music and I can't remember any of it? That seems inhuman, and I am not sure at all whether I would miss it, maybe not - the only analogue I have is sex drive, I run hot most of my life, sex is something I enjoy so much and value that ability to enjoy it but when I was nursing kids, it was gone, entirely gone, I had less than no sex drive and while it caused problems in my relationship, I can't say I missed it exactly? I didn't care that I didn't care about sex and couldn't feel it. So if I became amusical in that way, maybe I would not care. It's just hard to imagine, just like right now it's hard to believe I didn't care about missing out on the sexual pleasure.

[–] mrdown@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I can't live without it. I would be very lazy and unproductive

I am way ahead of you on that one.

[–] jaupsinluggies@feddit.uk 3 points 2 days ago

It'd be a big loss but it wouldn't be catastrophic. Beethoven went deaf and that didn't stop him.

I could focus in on the pure music inside my head that isn't degraded by the normal music transmission channels.

I've read enough written music to be able to hear it in my mind's ear when I read it, so learning new stuff would still be possible.

I would miss being able to crank Summer of 69 up to 11 though.

[–] webghost0101@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

I sometimes contemplate if i rather lose an ear or an eye.

On the surface an eye seems so much more important but vision with one eye is still mostly the same vision with one corner cut out where hearing from one ear is instantly very disorienting.

Also i believe different notes hit my brain differently depending on the ear, hence why stereo is the norm.

[–] Hadriscus@jlai.lu 2 points 2 days ago

I'd be alright, I can hear it in my mind the same

[–] fitjazz@lemmynsfw.com 3 points 2 days ago

I am a lighting designer for concerts so right off the bat my career would be over. Outside of work I listen to music a lot to help motivate me to do things so it would be much harder for me to accomplish anything.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I'm pretty sure that good music helped me greatly through my rather questionable youth and made me an okay adult. It was pretty much a godsend, and without it, my life would already be quite shit. Likewise, since it's a big part of my life now, taking it away would make the rest suck a lot.

[–] boletus@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Theoretically that would just mean going deaf right? If so I could still feel vibrations and so on. So I guess it suck immensely but I wouldn't lose the ability to partake in rhythms and may be able to enjoy bass.

[–] white_nrdy@programming.dev 5 points 2 days ago

I went to university with a large deaf population. Back then I thought it was weird seeing people I knew were deaf walking around with really nice over ear headphones on (like beats and such) until I heard one listening and the bass was cranked seemingly all the way up. Then it made sense

[–] FigMcLargeHuge@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Extremely sad. I do often wonder what the last song I will ever listen to will be, and along with that if the song I am listening to right now will be the last time I ever hear it.

[–] Kuma@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Is it just music? If yes would that mean that I can't hear myself or my friends when we sing together while we do other/boring stuff? I would be more sad about that part actually.

The perk would be to not hear annoying songs on repeat at stores around holiday or being able to actually talk at bars. But otherwise extremely sad.

[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I would be beyond heartbroken and go mad

[–] Spacehooks@reddthat.com 2 points 2 days ago

I literally couldn't focus. I need it drown out everything else.

[–] ICCrawler@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

I'd live, but it'd suck even more.

[–] tyrant@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Oh man.... Music lifts me out of a funk really quick. I'd be depressed and way more grumpy. I'm always listening to something

Annoyed more so than sad. For the most part, I listen to instrumental songs to block out the ads and music while shopping. Otherwise, I don't play music.

I do have several nature recordings of thunder storms, crashing waves, etc that could fill in if music was gone from the world.

The upside for me would be no more music in tv shows and movies. Sometimes, its too loud to clearly hear the dialogue.

[–] sad_detective_man@sopuli.xyz 2 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Depression basically already did this to me. Something that used to make me feel a lot of things is now a chore that I usually don't get around to

load more comments (2 replies)
[–] DearMoogle@lemmy.today 2 points 2 days ago

What a loss! 😔 Music is such a huge spice of life. But things could be worse bc at least I’m not deaf

[–] jeeva@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

I'll say, as someone who loves listening to chill music, but has had a few events leave them with pretty bad tinnitus, it sucks to be even partially on the way to there.

load more comments
view more: next ›