When you jump in the car to drive somewhere, what do you normally do? Start a playlist going or listen to the radio? For me, I'm definitely a bit of both! Sometimes, I really fancy listening to the radio - usually Radio 1 as the DJ's always make me laugh and then other times I really fancy my own choice of music. I've been inspired to start thinking about what I listen to whilst driving after reading some interesting research from car brand Kia, which shows that people's driving is influenced by what music they listen to whilst driving electric cars.
The experiment for the research was overseen by a leading authority in psychoacoustics and
interestingly, it revealed that classical music like Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, could make drivers driving up to four times more efficient! Solo driving - Short trips My own choice of music is influenced usually by how long my drive is going to be, where I'm going, who's in the car and whether or not I'm in a rush. If it's just me and it's a short drive I typically go for something quite upbeat. I have a trance/dance playlist on Spotify that I created and I just add songs to it as and when I find them. I find these to be a good 'motivator' and as they are quite upbeat they seem to put me in a good, positive frame of mind.Solo driving - long tripsIf I'm solo driving somewhere and it's a long road trip, it's more than likely going to be my 'epic' playlist that I opt for. These are songs that I've chosen from movies, TV series and even games that I love. They're slower than the trance/dance playlist and tend to feel more calming, although at times a few of them can be quite intense as you'd expect from 'epic' style music. But they help me to stay calm and focused and I feel like they're a good choice for a long drive where I need to concentrate on the road and on my driving for longer periods. I also like how they invoke memories of my favorite films, shows and games as that gives me comfort on a long drive.
Family road tripsWhen we've been in the car as a family and have been coming home from say a holiday where we may have been driving for hours, we sometimes play 'Guess the movie / TV show', where I will, as the passenger, play a song for Adam and the boys to try and guess where it's from. I find these easily by searching for 'movie theme songs' or "Guess the movie' on Spotify and this has been a fun way to fill our time and keep our spirits up when the journey is long and the kids are getting bored.
School run During the school run I tend to listen to the radio. I work from home and to be honest, sometimes it's nice to hear voices chatting away, plus the radio DJ's always make me laugh. I also find that as the drive is short, I don't tend to have a need or the time to set up a playlist as we're just hopping in and out of the car.
It's been quite interesting to take part in the 'Drive Style Playlist' campaign with Kia and to stop and think about what music I listen to whilst driving in the car. I can definitely see that my choices are swayed by the length and type of drive I am doing and who I am with.
What do you normally listen to in the car? Do your music choices change deepening on how long the drive is? Or who is with you or even where you are going?
*This post is in collaboration with Kia, however all thoughts shared are entirely my own.
Thank you for reading. Alex xo