Turn on the TV… the radio… or walk into just about any store, and you’re bound to hear it.
Christmas music.
It’s everywhere!
It’s all around because most folks are already getting into the holiday spirit and love the sound of a little Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby and Elvis Presley this time of year.
But not the Christmas-hating media.
They seem to despise everything about the holiday, right down to the music, with absurd headlines over the past few weeks about how Christmas songs are bad for your mental health.
“Christmas music may take mental toll, psychologist says,” said a headline on CBS News.
“Listening to too much Christmas music is bad for your health,” claimed The Independent.
“Too much Christmas music is bad for your health, psychologists say,” blared The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
And IFL Science wrote: “Christmas music could harm your mental health.”
All of the stories imply or otherwise come right out and state that listening to “White Christmas” and “Jingle Bells” will drive you nuts.
Just one problem: It’s fake news!
This isn’t based on a study of any kind. It’s not even based on a survey of consumers.
It’s a single attention-seeking shrink who made a weird and weak claim.
“(Christmas music) might make us feel that we’re trapped,” clinical psychologist Linda Blair told Sky News. “It’s a reminder that we have to buy presents, cater for people, organize celebrations.”
She said the biggest risks were in playing the music too loud and too early, and those most likely to go batty aren’t the consumers passing through the stores.
It’s the folks who work there, listening to the same tunes on repeat.
She said shop workers have a tougher time concentrating on their jobs because they’re too busy tuning out the music, and could get stressed over it.
Again, she didn’t provide any published and peer-reviewed research to back this up, so it’s an opinion, not a fact.
It seems just as likely that most store workers – even those who might be a little tired of the tunes – would rather have the “stress” of tuning out Christmas music than the stress of not having a job this time of year.
Sure, the same tunes over and over certainly can make anyone a little bonkers any time of year, whether it’s Christmas music or a Top 40 hit that you can’t avoid… but no one’s getting sick over this stuff, either.
And if anyone doesn’t like it, it’ll all be over in a few weeks.
Lame stories getting played up the in mainstream media, however, will be around forever – and THAT’S something that really can drive you batty!
— The Horn editorial team