Nathan Hangen

In a World of Pure Imagination [GCN-10]

Too Much Noise and Not Enough Music

This is something I found myself typing today, in a completely different context than I’ll be talking about here, and was one of those statements that made me think:

“How the hell did you come up with something like that?”

That’s when I knew it was time to sit down and write a post, which I just did.

It was one of those moments where you know it’s not you doing the writing, and I wouldn’t dare claim otherwise.

It was a spiritual process.

Then I went outside to grab a beer and found an opossum in the garage hanging out with my cats.

Yeah, one of those “wow” evenings.

Must be something in the stars tonight.

So here I am…thinking about this paradigm of noise vs music.

It’s kind of like the signal vs noise debate, but I’d argue that even signal is often noise.

We’ve got Twitter, and Facebook, and Flickr, and gMail, and all this other shit that stabs us with noise every second, of every minute, of every day.

When it’s not the PC (or Mac), it’s the smartphone. When it’s not the phone, it’s the TV. When it’s not the TV, it’s that damn song we can’t get out of our head…that Lady Gaga shit.

This leaves me wondering…where the hell is the music?

Are we addicted to making noise?

“Look at me, I’m important!”

It seems like we’re breeding each other to get used to it instead of put an end to it.

Do the social media and blogging pundits really know what they’re talking about? Do we really have to blog?

Do we have to Tweet and Facebook?

Do we need to 4square it up?

Where do we draw the line?

As I write this, I saw @daniellelaporte say “there’s so much more room in silence.”

I just told her it was “effing surreal.”

Earlier someone said something to the effect of “don’t speak unless it adds to the silence.”

Again, a perfect way to say it.

Why don’t we do less speaking and more listening?

When you open your mouth, is it really that important?

I know I’m guilty as hell. In my house, on my blog, and in my business.

It’s a damn difficult habit to break.

Let’s break it

Can you make a vow with me to make more music?

If you’re not comfortable making music (which you should be, because deep down, I know you have some music to make), can you vow to spend more time in silence?

I was always fascinated by the monks that spent all day writing on chalkboards instead of speaking. They get along just fine.

I find that when my kids walk into my office, there’s a lot of room in silence.

When I step outside to watch them ride bikes, there’s a lot of room in silence.

When I sit down with my wife, there’s a lot of room in silence.

Sometimes, just a smile or a nod says it all.

We don’t have to be addicted to party hats and noisemakers.

Just because no one else is measuring their noise, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t.

The world’s moving too fast to spend the entire ride screaming.

Let’s take a deep breath and enjoy it.

Other Posts

• Are You Not Entertained?
• I’m Taking the Gloves Off
• Social Media Has Become a Virus
• Where 99% of Bloggers Go Wrong
• Make Nothing but Art

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