Musical listening in the digital age: between attention and distraction

Abstract

This article investigates how media technologies and the platformization of culture reconfigure contemporary musical listening. Drawing on the debate between the perspectives of Benjamin—who understands distraction as a necessary adaptation to the modern world—and Adorno who criticizes the superficiality of listening— the article examines the tension between concentration and distraction in the musical experience. These reflections are connected to Stockfelt’s concept of “adequate listening,” which proposes a dynamic mechanism of alternating between focused attention and momentary inattention. The study adopts a theoretical-critical approach, supported by sources in critical theory, digital platform studies, and cognitive neuroscience research (Ophir et al., 2009; Moisala et al., 2016; Uncapher and Wagner, 2018), which demonstrate how multitasking fragments attention and undermines cognitive control. As a case study, we analyze the work of Hans Zimmer, whose soundtracks exemplify the interplay between immersive reception and fragmented consumption. We conclude that musical listening in the twenty-first century is characterized by a regime of structural inattention, consolidated as a dominant paradigm of aesthetic enjoyment in the digital age, shaped by interfaces, platforms, and algorithms that increasingly mediate cultural experience.