Are we truly alone together? Well, thanks to Spotify’s new feature we can find out as we now have the ability to know if anyone else around the world is listening to the same song as us at the same time. Something that supposedly happens far more often that one might expect.
As Fast Company puts it:
“With more than 250 million Spotify users around the world, it’s not tough to imagine that two people may be listening to the same song at any given moment.
You hit play on Run the Jewels’ ‘Ohh La La.’
Who’s to say some dude in Germany didn’t just do that exact thing?
Spotify itself says that every second, more than 30,000 people are pressing play on the same song. Today, the platform is launching a new site called “Listening Together,” which visualizes these instances, showing us where these simultaneous listeners are, in real time.”
It may not seem like it now but Listening Together could be the start of a new trend. An ironic one in which we look to technology to bring us together, to help strengthen the very social bonds that make us feel human. And it should come as no surprise that we’d start with music considering the power that music has to unite us. In fact, music may already be capable of syncing up our wavelengths.
Futurism explains:
“According to new research by Chinese neuroscientists, something extraordinary happens during a musical performance: the brain activity of listeners appears to sync up with the brain activity of the musician playing music for them. Yes, anyone who’s ever seen an awesome concert now has confirmation: Musicians and crowds really are connecting, at a neurological level.”
Considering the current state of our social distancing based reality that connection is now more important than ever before. Sure, we all want to get to the point where we can hang out with our friends again, attend concerts and parties, and rock out to our heart’s content. But until it is safe to do so we may have to settle for the next best thing: Listening Together.
Is Listening Together the Greatest Idea Ever?
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