Fri, 15 Jun 2007

Noise in the Environment . . .

Recently, I have been struck by the amount of noise in the environment. I was sitting in a Starbucks recently when I noted the level of the background music. It was definitely not in the background. In fact, I left the place rather than having to put up with the noise. Earlier in the month, I went to a new deli near work and was struck by the level of the music in the place. There, it was so loud that it interfered with conversation. I have even thought as I walked by the place that I don't want to go back because of the level of the noise.

But we, as a society, live in a very noisy world. But the noise isn't just sound. It's visual also. The younger people in our society seem to need a constant barage of noise in their environment. If they can't get it through some external source, they create their own personal noise in the form of mp3 players, cellphones, car stereos. They wrap themselves in constant noise even in areas where the environment is relatively quiet.

I'm not sure what the reason is for this need for constant stimulation of our senses. Sitting quietly seems to be a lost art -- or at least one which people are consciously ignoring. Stress is up. I heard a report recently where teenagers said they took up smoking to relieve stress. I wonder if this stress is not, at least in part, a result of the constant chaos in which we live and the noise to which we are exposed?

Whatever the cause of all the electronic noise, I think we all need periods of quiet. We need to walk in the forest where there are only the sounds and sights are natural, not generated by some electronic gizmo. We need to take the time to sit quietly and listen to nothing other than our breathing. We need to eliminate the electronic chatter from our lives for periods through which we can really relax.

posted 12:01 [/Thinking] permanent link