We live in times where silence is indeed in short supply. Noisy cities, transportation, work environment. Yet we seem determined to intentionally do away with every occasion to enjoy silence we can possibly get.
Let’s go to the beach! – a friend said to me the other day. I was free that afternoon, so I packed a beach towel and a couple of books. Here’s a chance to catch up on my reading, to relax, to listen to the waves that would gently embrace the shore of Buyukada, the biggest of the Princes’ Islands, off the Asian coast of Istanbul. Sea, sun, silence.
Well, not quite. I hadn’t factored in the music that the nearby changing-catering-beach chair renting facility was playing, obviously to please the beach-goers. A sigh. An only too common a scenario. No sound of waves or birds for us; no quiet whispers or reading either. Just mainstream pop.
We have different ways of interpreting our environment. It is not impossible that 98 % of people wouldn’t mind relatively loud music on the beach. But some of us do. Let me explain why.
Music catches my attention is such a way that it’s near-impossible for me to concentrate on much else. This is the case for all music I listen to or I am forced to listen to, whether I love or loathe it. Any tasks requiring cognitive effort would be difficult for me to perform or would take eight times the usual amount of time if I am distracted by music, with perhaps the only exception being ironing. Listening to music would take 100 % of my attention away from the task at hand.
It might seem such a trivial matter, but it that’s the way you are, unwanted music becomes a real problem. And these days, it seems harder than ever to escape it. It is everywhere: in shops, in public transportation, at the top of mountains.
A sure-fire way for a shop to lose me as a customer is music so loud it gives me an earache. Clothing stores are particularly common offenders here. No, they’re not making me buy more: they are forcing me to leave the premises, regardless of how interested I might have been in the products on display.
Let’s consider public transportation. Headphones are such an obvious solution for those who want to enjoy some music, an audio book, or would like to stay up-to-date with the latest news whilst commuting to work. This simple and easy solution is surprisingly ignored and there will always be someone who, for some reason, finds it acceptable to infiltrate the public space with the noise of You Tube videos and such like. Why?
Unwanted music on the top of a mountain? Oh yes. Last year, I witnessed a situation where, in the Lake District in England, a middle-aged couple had to ask a group of students to stop playing music: a behaviour completely inappropriate for those coming to enjoy the nature in the national park.
Don’t get me wrong: I do enjoy music. But I’d like to be able to enjoy it on my terms – as in, when and where I want it. I was horrified when the company I was working for decided to impose music on our lovely, quiet open space office, where employees were allowed to listen to music using headphones. Resolving complex software problems and music don’t exactly go hand in hand; but the creative department clearly loved the idea. There was an elephant in the room, in the form of a complex sound system playing BBC Radio 1 for the most part.
I wrote a letter to a British newspaper that had a work advice column and described the problem. How could we keep everyone happy? The letter attracted nearly 300 comments. Some suggested a compromise involving a couple of hours of music, followed by silence. Interestingly, the comments were overwhelmingly in favour of silence. The numbers said it all: 6 comments for music; the other 280-something: for silence. My favourite comment: Music in the office can divide people more than Brexit does.
It seems that these days silence genuinely scares us. We become uncomfortable. We seek to fill the perceived void created by a pause in a conversation with some form of noise, usually in the guise of music. But if you’re not in the mood for it, music can be just as mind-drilling as a jackhammer.
The old adage has it that silence is gold. Now, it’s like gold dust. So, in this day and age, where do we find it? In may be in our homes, in libraries, in places of worship. Would it really be so hard to stop and appreciate some much-needed peace – and some undiluted silence? Silence would give us an opportunity to reflect on things, to clear our heads.
We needn’t fear it. We might even become re-acquainted with the term comfortable silence.
Purple Travel Path 