why is silence just so uncomfrotable?

Question

why do u think that people are most un comfortable when its completely silent in a room than if there is noise?

Answer 1

Silence is one of the most frighting things. Whether it is simply the lack of sound in a room. Or from a person silence forces a person to turn inward on themselves. And that's when ones mind will open up. Bringing back both good and bad memoirs. Thoughts and ideas that can truly break you down. We all need a certain level of background noise. Background noise makes us concentrate harder on things. Allows us to be distracted form those inner thoughts and demons we hold at bay daily. And provides us with and excuse now and then. Take away the noise and all we have is ourselves and many people just aren't comfortable with themselves.

Answer 2

I don't think that it's the silence as much as the lack of communication, that's uncomfortable. Additionally, it's not even the lack of communication, it's the lack of familiarity. I can be "silent" in a room with someone I know well and not feel the need to talk and be completely comfortable in that situation. On the contrary, even in a room with background noise such as music or other conversations, if I'm near someone that I know only a little bit, don't know at all, or worse, want to get to know, the overwhelming feeling that I must communicate somehow makes any lull in the conversation uncomfortable. I don't know about everyone else, but for me it's because I feel like I should be able to carry on a halfway interesting conversation and if that fails to happen, then we're left either wondering what else to say or looking for somewhere else to go. If i'm in a "silence" with someone well known, there isn't as much to find out, disclose about myself, or the need (however impracticle) to impress the person in the room because we're already friends and I don't have to win them over.

Answer 3

Hello...
As a college instructor, I guess I have my own slant on your question... (smile). I know from experience that, if my class falls quiet, except during tests, it's always a bad sign...
In nature, sudden silence from the local animals and insects means a stranger or known predator has entered the area, and to this day, humans still feel a sense of disquiet when everything becomes suddenly and unexpectedly "still". My classroom is no exception..
1. When someone, including myself, says or does something that unsettles.

2. When my students' minds are elsewhere, and I'm the source of their delay. I will get curt, if any, responses out of them.

3. The audience is profoundly bored, uncomfortable, or disinterested, but feels they must abide until the irritant goes away... Example... Being lectured by people who are far more excited about what they are saying than you are in hearing it.

4. Some of my students know how to sleep sitting up and with their eyes open, a talent I covet for use during our long faculty meetings. I only discover that someone is in "sleep mode" when I ask them a question and their response is silence and a blank stare. Since my opinion is never solicited during the faculty meetings, and silence is impossible thanks to the pontifications of my tenured peers, this is one of those rare scenarios where a silent, glassy-eyed audience would go unnoticed.

In the end, I guess silence seems to be an indicator to most people that something is just not right. I'm curious to read the other responses you get to your question. Good Luck!

Answer 4

I think that the silence is uncomfortable because, be it by nature or by learning, you feel obliged to to do something when together with others, in this case, to talk, gossip, interact, etc. You feel like you are participating in that interaction - even if you are silent while others are doing the talking in that very moment.

When the silence occurs, the group activity stops, and since you feel part of such activity, you feel the obligation to keep it going. You feel it's your fault that no one is talking, then you force yourself to come up with something, only to find out that nothing comes to mind. The pressure increases, and thus the uneasiness. It's like when you are in front of a crowd, with the spotlight on you and you keep quiet.

The contrary supports the above: If the point is to remain silent (i.e., if you all are watching a movie or if you truly don't want to speak because, say, you are furious at that moment), then you don't care about the silence, and thus you don't feel uncomfortable at all.

Answer 5

When there is complete silence in a room everyone tends to look around and think different thoughts about someone else. Not knowing what they are thinking about knowing they could be having thoughts of you, makes you uncomfortable. I mean haven't you ever been in a room and looked at other peoples hairstyles, shoes, what they are wearing, or even wonder if they took a shower that day, maybe they just covered up with bodyspray or something. I think we all have been there. Start up a conversation and it won't be quiet and you might make a new friend. SMILE

Answer 6

The silence must be well timed. Take the hollow of AC/DC's street to Hell as an celebration. They open up with some notes from a unmarried guitar suggested through 4 beats of silence. Its merely about as if the band and their target audience are on a highway vacation and Angus and the adult males merely pulled in on the perfect relax provide up beforehand driving by the outback. all of us is time-honored with whats coming next! The band is giving their target audience a very last probability to practice to ROCK!

Answer 7

Yeah I do think silence is uncomfortable especially when I'm at home because the silence creeps me out majorly and at school when it gets silent it's so uncomfortable because you're scared that if you move your shoes will squeak on the floor or your pants will rub against the chair weird and make a funny noise and then people will bug you I hate silence.

Answer 8

I think it depends on what one is accustomed to--someone used to noises in an urban setting or from a large boisterous family might find silence very discomfiting. People from rural areas that I have knwon really appreciate times of silence. Some find it difficult to concentrate in noisy situations (hence sayings such as "I can't hear myself think".) It's what's comfortable for the individual.

Answer 9

I'm the opposite. Too much noise makes me uncomfortable. But if I had to guess, I would say it's because most people aren't used to being in silence for long periods of time.

Answer 10

There are times I prefer silence to it being so noisey I can't hear myself think. It can get too loud - just the hustle and bustle and I have found that as I grow older I enjoy those golden moments of quiet to gather my thoughts. I am at peace with myself and the world around me. Those like me enjoy quiet times of meditation and solitude. Not so with others and they need the noise to replace what is lacking or they use the noise so they don't have to deal with things(like leave the t.v. play all night) because they are alone and afraid.
Now don't get me wrong I love the sound of my family's craziness and those kids laughing and playing but then...in my quiet time.

Answer 11

Generally I have found that silence is very troubling to people who are very self-conscious (not shy, but very concerned with what everyone thinks about them); and people who are stupid (not being mean - I don't mean someone's mental capacity, but rather how people choose to use what intelligence each person has - stupid people don't make any effort to use their brain). The reason for this is that self-conscious people need constant interaction as assurance that people don't dislike them, and stupid people need constant interaction essentially to protect them from having to think.

It has nothing to do with being unnatural - of course *absolute* silence is pretty unnatural, but even in a room where no one is talking, you can still hear each other breathing; the sound of the air conditioning, the hum of the fluorescent lights. A lack of sound is certainly not unnatural, though.