I am a student at UMass Amherst living in a dorm. From the title, I know the answer might seem obvious to some people, but the circumstances make me question it.
Today is a Thursday, and I started playing music at around 1:00 PM, well after quiet hours had ended. Before I started, someone else down the hall had been playing music in their room for about an hour and a half without any issue. When I played my music, my speaker was at about half volume.
After only about two minutes, I got a knock on my door from someone asking me to turn it down. I immediately stopped playing the music and ended up going to a friend’s place instead. That said, the volume was already relatively low, and I’m not sure I would make the same choice in the future under the same circumstances.
Am I wrong for feeling reluctant to turn my music down and thinking it’s unreasonable to complain about music at this time of the afternoon? I understand that some students prefer to study in their dorm rooms, but even so, there are plenty of designated study spaces on campus, including areas in my dorm that are almost never used.
NAH. Good lord must it be all that? A neighbor can’t make a simple request without the discussion about time and infrastructure? People can’t ask you to turn something down unless theres a rule that says they can?
Id say NTA so long as half volume isn’t blaring through the walls. You turned it down when requested and you weren’t playing during quiet hours so I guess I don’t understand the problem. If the person wants to study in silence that’s not really realistic in a dorm room with people coming and going and talking in the hallway. If that’s the case for the request, they should consider studying in the quiet rooms in the campus library. Most university campuses have them and that’s really the only place you can expect silence at a university. I`d argue the same thing applies to apartment living in a city, like when you’re living close with people they will make noise
They didn’t ask you to turn the music *off* just *down*. Your post is disingenuous, especially the title.
You’re in a shared living situation, just make some effort. Half volume is pretty loud. Why not just try turning it down?
I don’t think Y T A for playing music, but I also don’t think that’s what this situation is about and YTA for trying to frame it that way.
By “half volume,” you mean halfway to as high as the volume goes? Depending on your speakers, that could be pretty loud. I’d have to know exactly how loud and disruptive your music really was to make a judgment.
NAH. But you may be being discourteous to your neighbors that you share a space with (or vice versa).
If this was a one time occurrence then I think you handled it appropriately, but it really depends on the type of music, the volume, and how well you plan on getting along with your neighbors, but sometimes its better to keep the peace. If it keeps happening you have to have a discussion with the person, like the adults that you are.
INFO
What are your dorm’s policies on noise?
Even outside of quiet hours, it is expected that you do not play music at a loud volume. My university said that your music should not be audible more than two doors down the hall. There were also regulations on where musical instruments could be played. It’s not an apartment complex, but a university dormitory. People are there to study and studying in their own room is expected and should be respected.
Ever hear of headphones?
The longer you live in shared wall situations, the more you appreciate when everyone, you and your neighbors, just use f’in headphones.
Point of order: you went along with the request so there’s no actual conflict at this point. What you meant to say was “WIBTA if I refuse the request next time?”
And I would say, probably not, provided that your music is/was not excessively loud (“half volume” isn’t very descriptive because the actual loudness of that could vary greatly depending on the speakers). Everybody’s living in close quarters and needs to be considerate, and this goes both ways. You shouldn’t make excessive/unreasonable amounts of noise at any time, but also if someone wants total silence outside of quiet hours, they should head to the library.
YTA. In this day and age with wireless headphones there is no reason for anyone else to hear your music and as someone pointed out they just asked you to turn it down, which is exactly what you could have done to the person you heard earlier.
YTA
It’s 2026 and they didn’t just crack the technology on headphones. If your music was so loud that people could hear it through the walls, it was too loud.
YTA. Use headphones
YTA. Fact of the matter is, they could hear your music. You may not feel it was loud, but it was loud enough for someone to hear that wasn’t in your dorm. One of the universal annoyances is being in your own living space and someone outside of it is invading their space. In this case your music is invading other people’s living space. Just because someone else did it doesn’t mean it’s okay to do.
Probably YTA. I am not sure what “half volume” means exactly but if it loud enough to disturb someone in another room, turn it down or put on headphones.