Have we as a society turned our back on silence?

Question

Are all of these new machines and devices just increasing the noise that distracts us from the essence of life, contemplation, and meditation?

[inspired by Jean Arp]

Answer 1

I've started my answer three times. I'm finally going to just dive in and see which of my three ideas end up coming out first. I guess my indecision comes from the fact that it is a generalization about our society. And with all generalizations you see those that it applies to and you see those that it does not.

Technology has indeed changed our lives. Whereas we once drove down the street carrying on conversations with our kids in the back seat, we now see soccer mom's on their cell phones desperately trying to arrange pick ups and drop offs and feeling they are showing concern for their kids which the true concern would be to just turn off the phone and set it aside and be with the kids.

Parents don't feel they have time to do the things they want to do so they turn on the television and set their kids in front of it and let it babysit their kids for hours on end.

Sitting on the beach in the most delicious place of solitude, you see a great percentage of people with their iPods stuck in their ears listening to music rather than the song of the crashing waves.

We hike and take out that GPS system to see if we are going the right way rather exploring and leaving things to chance.

So technology is created. Does that mean we have to accept it? If we listen to the teams that market the devices that would be a yes. They attack us on the billboards, on our tv, in our magazines, on the radio drilling into our minds that these things are necessary. But again......does that mean we have to accept it?

*shrugs* Ok.....so a huge part of society does. So let's explore why we still have that other part of society that can appreciate silence.

Again.....I have to go back to how we were raised. Why do I go back to this time and time again? Folks....we seriously form all of our habits by what we were taught and what we learned (contrary to mr. oscar wilde thank you very much) from our parents as we grew. If we were taught to appreciate sitting silent and reading a book we continue to do this as adults. What's more important, we teach this wonderful habit to our kids. We take walks in the woods and sit on rocks and just ponder the beauty of it all. We stare at the ocen and take in the sounds of nature. We sit under a tree and just watch the clouds. We have to realize that technology is a wonderful thing, but the natural devices we have before us are even greater.

So have we turned out back on silence? Sadly, many never stopped to appreciate it to begin with. But for those that did.......they will never turn their backs or allow their children to do so.

Answer 2

valid point, but being 61 and sometimes feeling I come into some kind time warp some things I can,t help noticing is those that are much younger, from the time they wake up the t.v. goes on and the head phones go on, leave the house and their c.d's go on a second after the car starts. My hope is that some time in their future they will see the benefits of having the time to reflect on the lessons learned the previous day, to quiet the mind through meditation, then plan to maintain a positive attitude now matter what happens the rest of the day, then give a word of thanks at the end of the day.

Answer 3

No, I believe we have embraced silence like never before, but not unfortunately to our advantage.

The email age has brought a state of events where people are too busy to talk to one another. Texting has replaced the conversation that mobile phones were intended to engender. And as technology has fostered a silent nature within us, so politics has made that silence a necessity in order to sleep at night. It has become a virtue to "not be political" because politics has become so tainted a process that even to admit we take it seriously has become the mark of a Machievellian brain. Elections are stolen, principles crushed, wars fought, civil liberties eroded, and the human race is silent and ineffective, because it has so learned to love its silence that to make a noise, a fuss, a hullaballoo, is now its greatest source of embarrassment next to its own bodies.

Answer 4

Is this a conspiracy? To distract us from thinking, contemplating, all those things that feed the imagination, so that our society will crumble at a faster rate? This may be true. I, for one am so guilty of this...sometimes the television stays on all night just for noise.

Answer 5

It seems so. Everywhere you look you see people with a cell phone glued to their ear, an Ipod stuck in it, or a car radio blasting.

On the other hand there is a resurgence of spiritual practice which values silence (See Eckhart Tolle, the Dalai Lama, et al.)

Answer 6

in a society / custom this is no longer bible-depending, this reality is mostly heard. while in a society / custom it really is bible-depending, we do not imagine this manner in any respect. a woman ie. a mom, produces a guy-baby besides as a lady-baby. yet in non-biblical societies, they differentiate the male from the female and placed potential into the fingers of the male yet oppress the female. while in a bible-depending custom, both the male and the female come from a woman and on the start , the girl got here from adam. So, this skill ... they're all a similar ... equality. WHO cause them to diverse ? islamic societies, non-bible depending cultures. they're neanderthals , backward minds who comprehend little ... that is so imp. to coach our children of w/ever gender. it really is so as that our minds would stumble on the fashion to progression as a replace of regress.

Answer 7

If society has indeed turned it's back on silence, where do I apply for an immediate resignation?

Answer 8

ssshhhhhhh.....I've taken a vow of silence and your question is invading with it's volume.

Answer 9

I wouldn't hear of it.

Answer 10

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