The science behind the 'beats to study to' craze

I sit at my desk at least eight hours a day. Between the steady pings from Slack, my trusty group chat and the siren song of the greater internet, staying focused can be difficult. As I write this, I'm swiping between a full-screen Scrivener window and a full-screen Chrome window because... Some people listen to podcasts at work to make mindless tasks go by. Unfortunately, I can't simultaneously pay attention to a conversation and write, so to help combat the incessant distractions, I listen to music -- a lot of it. Usually I turn to original scores from movies and video games, but I switch it up with instrumental hip-hop, industrial and downtempo electronic. A side effect of my efforts to fight against distraction is that I'm always on the lookout for new music to help me focus. Tune into ChilledCow's "lofi hip hop radio - beats to relax/study to" on YouTube at any given moment and you'll find thousands of people watching simultaneously.