pianoloverus Exactly how much does one have to be focusing on music to be considered
"listening"? I think there's no accepted criteria.
We could sit here and try to hash out criteria, but that would be missing the point.
The way people listen to music has absolutely changed, and it would be disingenuous to suggest otherwise.
That article that @pseudonym58 linked isn’t about classical music but it does get at some of the issues. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it.
Still, that’s not entirely what I’m talking about. I interact with university students in their 20s all day long, and I have the impression that for many of them, music has lost that “specialness,” it’s ubiquitous and less something to devote one’s entire attention to, and more something they need in the background, little more than a white noise machine without which they can’t focus on other things. Particularly studying. Most of my students say they can’t study without music. I on the other hand, cannot work with music playing because my attention goes to the music.