🎧 How your taste in commute music has actually changed over the years

My commute music taste has gone through what feels like three or four genuinely distinct phases over the years, starting with whatever was actively playing on the radio during college simply because that was the easiest and only real option available at the time without much active choice involved on my part at all. Once smartphones and proper playlists became normal, it shifted to fairly high energy music specifically meant to wake me up properly during the actual drive itself each morning. Somewhere in my late twenties that shifted again, fairly suddenly and without much conscious decision behind it, toward quieter instrumental tracks or even complete silence some mornings, something about wanting the actual commute itself to feel calmer rather than more stimulating than the work day that was already waiting for me at the other end of that same drive regardless of how I chose to spend it. Lately it has settled into a mix that genuinely surprises me a little whenever I actually notice it happening in real time, occasionally an old Hindi song from childhood that unexpectedly comes on shuffle and completely changes my mood for that entire specific drive, alternating with newer stuff I discovered much more recently that has almost nothing musically in common with what came before it in that same short playlist rotation. Asked a few colleagues about their own commute music journey recently just out of genuine curiosity, and most people described some version of a similar shift, high energy and loud when younger, gradually moving toward calmer or quieter as actual daily responsibilities and general life stress increased over roughly the same stretch of years for most of us. Has anyone else noticed their own commute music taste actually shift meaningfully like this over the years, and if so, what would you say specifically triggered that particular shift for you personally when you actually think back on it?

Complete silence during commutes still feels genuinely strange to me even after trying it deliberately a few times myself, though I understand exactly why it appeals to people during a particularly demanding or overwhelming stretch of actual daily work life. My own taste has settled into something similar to yours, an odd but genuinely comfortable mix of old and completely new depending purely on my mood that specific morning.

The shift from loud energetic music in my twenties toward quieter tracks as actual daily stress increased matches my own commute journey almost exactly. Lately an old childhood song coming on shuffle unexpectedly still completely changes my mood for that entire specific drive too, which is honestly one of the more reliable small joys left in an otherwise fairly routine and repetitive daily commute overall.