Finding silence in a digital world
Illustrations by Amy Lauren
By Tegan Forder
This year I went on a multi-day hike in the Australian outback. There was no television and no Wi-Fi. I walked with my friends or by myself. We played games at dinner and read. Went to bed early and rose in the already-hot mornings to pack our bags and pull on our boots ready to walk.
I didn’t miss scrolling Instagram or the daily notifications from WhatsApp. It provided me with space for creative thinking – and for not thinking at all.
A need for quiet
A few months on from that period of silence, I crave it again. I yearn for that detachment from noise and the draw of my phone.
I’m not the only one. A recent TikTok trend has videos of young people sharing their ‘discovery’ of 'silent walking’ – walking without music or listening to a podcast.
“For most older people – who can remember pre-Internet life – the default is to be disconnected from networked technology,” says Dr. Alex Beattie, media lecturer at Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington.
“Most young people have never known life before the Internet. They do not ‘go online,’ as online is their default. Thanks to smartphones, they take the Internet with them everywhere they go. Thus, silent walking is more unusual.”
The impact of noise
In an article for Time magazine, Mathias Basner, Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, told the authors that noise causes stress, especially if we have little or no control over it.
“The body will excrete stress hormones like adrenaline and cortisol that lead to changes in the composition of our blood—and of our blood vessels, which actually have been shown to be stiffer after a single night of noise exposure.”
Noise is also a contributing risk factor for depression, cognitive impairment, and neurodegenerative disorders.
What does silence do to our brain?
In often-cited research, Professor Imke Kirste led a study at Duke University Medical School where mice were put inside tiny soundless booths called anechoic chambers and played different sounds, like white noise, Mozart, and silence.
They measured the cell growth in the brain’s hippocampus (the area of the brain most associated with memory) and found silence resulted in the highest number of newly grown and sustained neurons.
The researchers wrote, “Trying to hear in silence can demonstrably accelerate the growth of valuable brain cells. This act of listening to quiet can, in itself, enrich our capacity to think and perceive.”
Connecting and creating
According to artist and neuroscientist Dr. Tanya Duckworth from The University of Adelaide, allowing our brain to be in a meditative or trance state helps consolidate the information we have learned.
“One of the often-overlooked benefits of silence on the human brain is in fostering cognitive creativity, or the ability for the brain to make connections between seemingly unrelated things, which is how new ideas are created,” she says.
Another benefit is a reduction in neuroinflammation, which has been shown to reduce our ability to think clearly, solve problems, and reduce our creative thinking abilities.
“Given that chronic neuroinflammation is related to a number of neurodegenerative diseases and mental health conditions, it’s really important that we take the time to let our brains rest,” Duckworth says.
Making the world quieter
Beattie says while it’s good to think about what changes we can make to incorporate more silence, it’s bigger than the individual.
“We need to be careful not to overly individualize ‘mindful’ digital usage” he says. “What about checking in with family and friends? Isn’t that being ‘mindful’ of others? How can we incorporate breaks with others instead of siloing ourselves from each other?”
Creating more opportunities for silence is something Beattie says designers, health advocates, business leaders and politicians should be considering.
“How can we design public and private spaces – including digital – in ways that recognise these macro trends and aim to enhance well-being?”
He suggests internet dead zones in parts of libraries and parks to promote offline activities, and other “disconnected” spaces or experiences.
How to balance technology and digital use
While taking ourselves on multi-day hikes or silent retreats could give us the blocks of silence we crave, it’s not a practical or affordable solution.
For easier and more sustainable ways to build the breaks into your day, Duckworth suggests meditation to help remediate some of the negative impacts on neuroinflammation.
“Taking breaks from our devices and having some quiet time during the day or going for walks outside without our devices can help to minimise the negative effects … and has an added bonus of increasing our cognitive creativity, making us better problem solvers.”
According to Beattie, creating tech-free spaces is worth considering. “Charging your phone out of the bedroom, or a phone-free dinner table. Personally, I garden and exercise without my phone, which works for me. But everyone is different.”
And for when a tech-free space is not an option, there are ways to use devices ‘silently’ to give your brain a break:
Using an app to track your step count while walking “silently”
Slow TV (like watching train journey videos)
Quietly co-working online
Creating alongside online crafters with the sound off
Passive media (like listening to the radio while doing something else)
Using an app while meditating (While not technically “silent,” it encourages the mind to filter out thoughts and sounds.)
Tegan Forder is an Adelaide-based health content marketer, freelance lifestyle and travel writer, and communication specialist. She has extensive communication experience working across newspapers, government, small business and the not-for-profit sector.
your contribution is tax-deductible
KEEP EXPLORING:
