Why skipping songs makes you less happy?

  I have exactly 572 songs in my mobile storage and I put the songs in shuffle and keep on clicking next button until I have the song I hoped for. But while riding the bike, I won’t click the next button even though I can do that through my earphones. I suggest not to hear songs but don’t throw a statement like “You do that first”, “Do what you preach”. So, when will I enjoy the songs more? While relaxing in my bed where I have the option to choose whatever I want or while riding the bike. And the answer is while riding the bike. I have two experiments to prove my hypothesis.

The first experiment is based on a photography course study. This study happened before the digital revolution. The photography teachers taught the students about how to take best photograph. At the end of the course, students were asked to take two best photographs. Among the two, one photograph has to be submitted as a reference for future students and other one can be kept by the students. The students were divided into two groups. First group (inescapable group) would not have the privilege to change between the two photographs. On the other hand, escapable group would have the privilege to swap between two photographs whenever they want, that is, if the students consider that submitted photograph was best they can collect that photograph by giving the other photograph. After sometime, researchers found the inescapable groups liked the photograph more, which they had in the hand than the escapable groups. If you are left with no choice, then you would automatically adapt to the situation and end up liking the things and may also end up happy. While riding, I am left with no choice to change the songs and that is what made me like the song.

Here, other factor come into play that is the perception of control. One of the few things, humans cannot adapt is noise. Here comes the second experiment conducted by David Glass and Jerome singer. In this experiment, participants were exposed to the noise and they were given the device to stop the noise when it is absolutely necessary. The participants didn’t use the device and also the noise made them less distressing. In the above scenario too, I have the perception of control because I can always change the songs through my earphones but I don’t think I have done until and unless it is absolutely necessary.