
Life in the age of noise - fern12
http://www.powells.com/post/original-essays/life-in-the-age-of-noise
======
andreyk
Probably not a popular figure on HN, but legendary filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky
had a good message on this: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeUvB-
KXQZk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AeUvB-KXQZk)

"I think I’d like to say only that they [young people] should learn to be
alone and try to spend as much time as possible by themselves. I think one of
the faults of young people today is that they try to come together around
events that are noisy, almost aggressive at times. This desire to be together
in order to not feel alone is an unfortunate symptom, in my opinion. Every
person needs to learn from childhood how to be spend time with oneself. That
doesn’t mean he should be lonely, but that he shouldn’t grow bored with
himself because people who grow bored in their own company seem to me in
danger, from a self-esteem point of view."﻿

This is from decades ago. It's easy to suspect we live in the age of noise,
but I feel it's likely the perception is exaggerated much like the notion our
times are particularly turbulent - in reality the past was plenty turbulent
too.

~~~
Joe-Z
I pretty much dismiss all 'the youth today' statements. People have always
been people, so why would the youth today be so much different from, say,
young people a hundred years ago (in what they think, feel and want that is).

However, to add to the point about noise: Often I just want to go have a few
drinks with my friends, but there's virtually no place where you can do that,
without getting bombarded by way-too-loud music. The only places I could think
of where that would not be the case are working-class watering holes where
people my age apparently don't like to go anymore. I'd love for us (I'm living
in Austria) to have more of a pub-culture like in England, where it seems to
me, it's more accepted, also among young people, to just sit in a bar, have a
drink and be able to talk to another.

~~~
Flip-per
Also living in Austria (Vienna), I do not experience the situation being as
bad as you do. There are cafés where you can talk for hours (also in the
evening), there are pubs (some of them do play loud music tough), and plenty
other bars where you an go to and have a nice chat, with background music but
not disturbingly loud. I'm sensitive to noise but there are usually plenty of
choices if I want to hang out in tranquil places. The situation is different
on the countryside where you don't have that much choice.

~~~
staamen
This is also my experience in Vienna. Having been there very often and also a
few times in London I would say that there are both noisey and quiet
bars/café's/pubs in both cities. And indeed in most cities in europe.

------
colmvp
> _When I look at my children, I see that they hardly pause anymore. They are
> always accessible, and almost always busy. The three of them tend to sit in
> front of a screen — usually alone. I do it sometimes too. Become engulfed in
> my smartphone, enslaved to my tablet — as a consumer and at times as a
> producer. I am constantly interrupted on my tablet, interruptions engendered
> by other interruptions. It is stupid._

Sadly, I've noticed this with myself and friends.

We'll be playing a game together on PS4 and instead of just naturally carrying
a conversation during a loading screen, a friend will pick up their phone and
check their messages. A break in between plays, and yes, they'll check their
messages. Check the score. Check a webpage. Sometimes my friends will
literally be distracted from playing the game by checking his phone.

It's not until we're sitting at a table eating food for which all distractions
are off the table.

Even when I'm tackling a tough problem like a programming challenge or trying
to type a detailed reply, instead of sitting with the problem in my head I
find myself trying to quickly distract myself. Instead of giving myself 10
minutes to struggle and think, I'll open a new tab and take a quick break to
YouTube or HN.

I have noticed that I'm in that very distracted state, one thing I find
helpful is to meditate for 10-20 minutes. Just accept the fact that I'm being
'inefficient' for that time and slow down. Reset. Breathe and let my mind kind
of settle. I find that if I keep doing that over a course of a day, I'll find
that I'm more productive and able to think about things instead of constantly
demand to be distracted.

~~~
bamboozled
Lately I've realised I'm exhausted from consumption of * media and
entertainment (I don't watch TV, more YouTube etc).

Last night I was awake at 2am just thinking I would like to just purge all
phones and computers from my house, permanently.

I'm not entirely blaming the devices; However, this behaviour is
unsustainable.

I've also noticed a worrying trend, my parents are getting more and more
addicted, I feel they have less change of realising it and getting help.

~~~
carlivar
I've recently started running regularly. At first I got a phone strap thing
and some Bluetooth earbuds. Used them while running for a while. Music or
podcasts.

Then my friend, who is a much better runner than me, told me he likes to keep
it simple. None of that stuff, just a Garmin watch for pacing/tracking
reasons.

So I've started running "quietly" as well. It's great. Not only am I
exercising my body, I'm cleaning my mind.

~~~
ivanche
This! While I had been preparing for the marathon, I never ran with earbuds.
Running, in essence, is a deeply philosophical activity.

~~~
lolive
This is a chicken and egg question.

A device will interfere between your inner self and your surroundings. Ideal
when your surroundings are shitty. On the contrary, the lack of device will
"force" you to search and find a nicer surroundings.

Introspection vs connection, choose your side.

~~~
mantas
That's a very interesting observation. I run without buds and the only time
when I'd want them is really boring straight stretches, e.g. along highway.

I'd say novelty is important too. Whenever I do smth in new location or listen
to new music, there's next to zero introspection. The usual location or known
music seem helps introspection. In addition to that, if the location is
unpleasant, it's hard to get into introspection mode.

TL;DR known-but-nice locations are best for introspection runs :)

------
bernardino
> It is difficult only to sit there.

The above quote reminds me of this quote by the mystic poet, Rumi: "Deafened
by the noise of wanting and desire you are unaware the beloved lives in the
core of your heart. Allow the noise to silence and you will hear her voice."

I have this quote written in the first page of my Moleskine planner, where it
states "In case of loss, please return to:". I think what this quote means is
that we often experience the world through our perceived identity. But it’s
not a definite perception, it’s more of a changing figment. Its sometimes
difficult to just sit back and relax, we have all these wants and desires. But
beyond this noise, there lies in the core of our heart what some refer to as
our natural state, unmodified and unbound by the mind. We all have moments
when we forget about ourselves like when we sense something of beauty: when we
cry for ten minutes in the dark of our room and the neck of our shirt becomes
soaked with tears and then we go to our backyard and look at the night sky, or
when we see an authentic interaction, true forgiveness, natural compassion,
warm understanding. A state where we feel at an effortless ease. This state is
the ‘open secret’, readily and always available to us, unfortunately, all too
often we are "deafened by the noise".

~~~
ehnto
It took a gradual disconnect to get me back on track. As best a developer can
disconnect anyway. I leave my phone behind as often as I can, and it opens me
up to so many small interactions with people that wouldn't have happened
otherwise.

I started taking my book to the city's gardens on weekends. I found the first
time I went there, I plonked down on a bench, and the months of constant
engagement finally caught up to me. I sat doing nothing for at least an hour,
and didn't even bother with the book.

I haven't felt that level of mental exhaustion since I cut out what engagement
I can. That day was such a contrast against how I normally felt that the
decision to go lower tech was easy.

Every now and then it creeps back insidiously, and I find myself mindlessly
flicking around the web or my phone if I have it with me. I can always tell
when I am slipping when I get out to the gardens again, and I feel the
exhaustion. It serves as a kind of barometer for my mental state, because it
can be really hard to tell when you are burning yourself out.

------
j_s
This topic is gaining momentum rapidly! The following discussion (of a more
recent article specifically focused on how immediately available overwhelming
choice has impacted music listening habits) was on the front page today:

Too Much Music: A Failed Experiment in Dedicated Listening |
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16158888](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=16158888)

 _The diluvial [flood] nature of modern media leaves us little time to pause.
The challenge, then, is to cultivate the patience and the discipline necessary
to engage more deeply than the modern world allows. Just because we are
flooded doesn 't mean we have to drown._

HN user kenning summarized it this way (talking about Facebook specifically,
but I believe the comment applies):

 _I think cigarettes are a great comparison. I heard it a few years back.

When popular, a huge amount of the population used cigarettes despite growing
research showing that it had a slight but consistent harmful effect. A hooked
individual is unlikely to stop using even when given this evidence, as the
product is addictive and gets stronger with network effects. Younger
generations understood the harm better and had to avoid regular temptation to
engage._

source:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15784708](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15784708)

~~~
snarfy
Ironically, as someone who smokes I think smoking has saved me from the noise.
Before it was a way to socialize but now it has a social stigma and I
generally smoke alone. Instead of getting distracted and opening a new tab on
hacker news I'll go outside and smoke and think about the problem I'm working
on. Smoking gives measured distractions, as opposed to random phone surfing
and messaging. I don't do that. I'm fine sitting two hours at the auto
mechanic waiting for my car with no phone, but halfway through I'm going to go
outside and smoke.

~~~
throwanem
I quit a couple months ago, because lately I find that the toll of the vice
outweighs the pleasure of it. But I haven't quit taking smoke breaks, because
they're far too useful to give up for precisely the reasons you describe.

------
concretebrain
Modern society requires us to endure the daily grind and push our deepest
thoughts and urges away. We are taught to fear our inner demons more than
anything.

We need accomplishment, entertainment and distraction because we're supposed
to live like we have no choice. But we have, and nobody can save us from
ourselves.

Changing jobs, leaving your family, moving to another city.. we all have some
deep urges we keep suppressing, ranging from trivial to life-changing, and to
keep them away, we cover them with fears that unearth when the distraction
pauses and make us seek more distraction before we notice our real issues.

------
slhck
> According to a much-referenced study, we humans are worse at concentrating
> than a goldfish.

So, I decided to fact-check that nonsense.

Found an article from the Telegraph [1] which links to an older article [2]
which supposedly supports that claim. But it isn't mentioned there. It only
says that Golfish “can remember where they found food up to 12 days
previously.”. The university itself explains the “media feeding frenzy” around
the research [3] but does not actually dispute it. Also, the Microsoft study
seems to have been reported without context [4]. The article says that, “it
turns out that there is no evidence that goldfish - or fish in general - have
particularly short attention spans or memories, despite what popular culture
suggests.” Finally, I found another article which did some in-depth research
into proving these misleading claims false [5].

[1]: [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/humans-have-
sh...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/2016/03/12/humans-have-shorter-
attention-span-than-goldfish-thanks-to-smart/)

[2]: [http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-
news/1093788...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-
news/10937888/Memory-of-a-goldfish-Actually-fish-can-recall-events-12-days-
ago.html)

[3]:
[https://www.macewan.ca/wcm/MacEwanNews/RESEARCH_INTO_FISH_ME...](https://www.macewan.ca/wcm/MacEwanNews/RESEARCH_INTO_FISH_MEMORY)

[4]:
[http://www.bbc.com/news/health-38896790](http://www.bbc.com/news/health-38896790)

[5]: [https://www.ceros.com/blog/no-dont-attention-span-
goldfish/](https://www.ceros.com/blog/no-dont-attention-span-goldfish/)

------
mncharity
It will be interesting to see how VR/AR plays out.

On the one hand, if say Tibetan prayer gongs, or trees swaying in the wind,
are your Pavlovian triggers for relaxed centering, with VR, zing, you're
there. And with eye tracking and other biometric and task monitoring, you
might even autotrigger them upon need.

On the other hand, checking you're phone? How last decade. With AR, you can
_immerse yourself_ in your phone 24x7. Your friends are all around you - the
open office^H _life_ plan. And Bubblegum Troll is playing with your cat.

~~~
flatline
> if say Tibetan prayer gongs, or trees swaying in the wind, are your
> Pavlovian triggers for relaxed centering

They may be, but only after you have trained them. You can get a quick
dopamine hit from say browsing reddit and feel relaxed but it’s not deep. The
point of meditation is to train the mind to do that thing - sit still, focus
on the mantra, whatever it is you’re doing. The byproduct is that over many
repetitions this state becomes more natural and after many more repetitions
even accessible at will. The AR monastery will be nothing more than another
shallow fix without training it to be so. The goal state is fairly independent
of external stimuli. I see AR/VR as being nothing more than another potential
distraction.

------
hi41
I performed poorly at my last two jobs and eventually got laid off. I think
the main reason is my constant net surfing from one news site to another. It
started like this. I would issue the build and it would take few minutes. I
used to go to a news site during that time. More builds and more surfing
followed. Now I find it hard to focus. I need help. Can someone please suggest
me some remedies. I don't have the resources to go to net addiction camps.

~~~
christophilus
My suggestion is a difficult one: go on a silent retreat. No internet, cell
phone, electronics. At least 3 days is my recommendation. 5 days is ideal. I
don't know about other religions, but any Trappist or Benedictine monastery
will let you into their guest house-- and feed you-- for free regardless of
your religious affiliations. (You generally have to book ahead of time, and
they _do_ appreciate donations at the end of your stay.)

While there, spend time in meditation. Maybe start with 5 minutes at a time,
and try to increase it over the course of the retreat. Go on long walks. Read
some books and do some journaling, but limit your reading/journaling time.

I think 3 days is the bare minimum, because I find that it takes me 2 days to
get my head out of my day-to-day life.

The downside (?) is that when you return to the real world, you will realize
just how noisy and stressful it is. Just turning my cell phone back on
activated a stress response in me the last time i retreated.

Once you return to the real world, continue to spend time in daily solitude
(alone, silent, and still).

I've found this practice makes a big difference in my level of self control.

Other things that have helped me: creating a daily task list for myself, each
task being short and clear and relatively easy to do. Break big tasks down
into smaller, bite-sized ones. Try to do the most important ones first. If
there are particularly egregious tasks, assign a reward to each and do them
early. (The reward might be, "If I finish this task, I'll go out for a walk /
get a nice porter at the pub / read Hacker News.")

~~~
hi41
Christophilus, thank you so much for taking the time for writing such a
thoughtful response. I will try some of the things you mentioned. About a
month back I deleted my Whatsapp account because I realized I was compulsively
checking it. It has brought me some relief. The silent retreat you suggested
indeed sounds right even though I find it scary because I have never once
attempted to remain silent for a decent length of time. It may be needed to
break my compulsive use of smartphone, surfing web.

------
searene
Well, we need to do something constantly, we human beings cannot be bored, but
what you can do to avoid boredom is not only to check your phone, but also do
something meaningful, what could make you happy/healthy, like
learning/hiking/traveling. The point is, just concentrate on something useful.
Life is not just a phone, and for most of the time, checking your phone can
bring you nothing but the slight comfort for a second.

~~~
danieldk
_Well, we need to do something constantly, we human beings cannot be bored,
but what you can do to avoid boredom_

Ten years ago or so, I did a meditation retreat. The first two days of silence
and having my eyes closed were hell, I craved for music, TV, chatting with
people, etc. Somehow the small daily distractions seemed fundamental to
surviving.

I was ready to pack up and leave and told the instructor so during the next
daily talk. He smiled and said 'ok, we'll make sure that you get refunded'.
Somehow, his light and humorful reaction made me realize that my brain had
built a monster out of my cravings and that I let it dominate my will
completely. After our chat I could more easily see the craving for what it
was. During the remainder of the retreat it would sometimes rear its ugly head
again, but I could just observe it as 'oh, that's craving again'. It comes and
it goes away.

The nice thing was that after those initial two days, I got a lot calmer and
my brain clearly started processing things from the past.

------
kraftman
> users in rich countries touch their phones 2,600 times a day — once every
> 33rd second.

I touch my computer 400 times a minute, it doesn't mean I'm addicted, just
means I'm typing.

Seems like a strange factoid that's just there to shock/scare us.

This whole article seems to be a strange mix of not knowing what point it's
trying to make and random quotes.

>To shut out the world — to sometimes experience silence — is, as I write in
my book, not about turning your back on your surroundings, but rather the
opposite: it is about searching for your own South Pole, seeing the world a
bit more clearly, and trying to love your life.

What does that even mean? I guess it would make sense if he had covered any of
those points already but he didn't really.

------
6d6b73
That's why of the reasons why I've implemented "quiet time" for my kids..
Every day after they do homework, they can play for as long as they want with
legos or other toys.. But at 6pm they have one hour of quiet time where they
have to be in their room, by themselves with all electronic devices off. Only
after that they can play on a computer for one hour. Of course I would rather
have them play on a computer first and have quiet hour right before the bed,
but for various reasons that's harder to implement.. For now this will have to
do.

------
keyle
I do agree that boredom can be seen as a lack of purpose. When you're
fullfilling a role or you're passionately sunk into an activity, or train of
thought, not much can take you away from it; and most people would describe
you as being in the zone, or in the clouds.

With a growing family, I find it's about getting some 'me' time. I've found it
tricky to even just shut the door.

------
titzer
People are scared of their own minds. Scared if they shut off everything that
they'll find out that their mind is full of terror, depression, loneliness,
fear, or just plain junk. Scared that if they had to think their way out of a
problem they couldn't do it. Being alone, being quiet, being without
distraction is a test. Will I go insane?

Well, by _people_ I mean _me_. YMMV.

~~~
Cthulhu_
Insane, probably not. Bored? Sure. And why be bored when there's always
something to do?

------
ggm
silence is golden, except for people with tinnitus.

I had a lovely ride in a glider, but its hardly silent up in the sky either:
air is noisy moving over your flight surfaces.

I think silence is a manufactured state: noise is a subjective qualitative
thing. As I lay in an MRI recently I found myself counting time-beats as the
head rotated, groups of four, groups of eight (its very noisy btw)

------
agumonkey
Internet makes use of one part of our brain. When I stop I can feel the blood
rush somewhere else. When I solder something, or play music, I feel very
differently. Interaction with the physical world isn't to be abandoned.

------
RyanShook
So good, thank you for sharing.

------
lobo_tuerto
I think the author could benefit from the Zen Buddhism meditation practice
called zazen.

------
erAck
One of my favorite T-shirts reads "enjoy the silence..."

~~~
djaychela
Probably a Depeche Mode reference rather than mental control related? Good
song though...

~~~
erAck
Well it's a Depeche Mode song quote, but the slogan is printed along with the
shape of an island where I don't take a computer with me when I go there and
turn on the phone only every other day or so or simply forget it. Being there
is a completely different mind set and relaxing and for me that is the mental
control to actively decide that no business or computer problem can bother me
and ruin my day. Peace of mind.

------
Animats
This sounds like "I walked to the north pole - and nobody noticed."

