What To Do When Someone Shares a Song (or Video) With You

Occasionally a friend will come up to you and offer to share a song or video. For example, they will hand you their phone and start playing a YouTube video. Here are the three things you should do in this situation:

1. Listen to the whole song

Yes, everyone knows you are busy and do not have 3 minutes to listen to this unexpected material from another person. And we know that you have certain things that you like and this may not be it. But be a good friend and just listen to the whole song. Do not stop it a third of the way through. This is insulting to your friend. Also do not click on the screen while it is playing to see how much time is left. If you need to do this, click to do a short rewind and say "I want to hear that part again". Then you can check the time remaining while indirectly complimenting your friend's song at the same time.

2. Say something nice about the song

At the end of the song, say something positive about it. Make it something specific - not just "that was nice, I liked it". Even if you are not a music expert, you can always find something. For example, "I liked how they modified the chorus each time" or even "it made me feel a little emotional towards the end". Your friend will appreciate that you were putting some thought into the song while listening.

3. Don't try to steal the show

Your friend is very happy that you listened to the entire song and had something nice to say about it. Now your tendency may be to pick a different song to play for your friend. You might say something like "that was good, but I like this song from their next album even better". Try to resist this temptation. If you have some relevant observation that is directly related to the song from your friend, that is fine. Otherwise, let the encounter be all about your friend this time.