Driving through endless Ohio farmland during a March afternoon, I faced a long road home. As I flipped my radio aimlessly from station to station I became increasingly frustrated by annoying DJs and lame songs.
So, I did something radical.
I turned it off.
Gasp! I know — the mere thought of silence is almost terrifying. It really isn’t as brave as it sounds. The dial was there to turn as soon as I was sufficiently bored with the little experiment. I was tempted to flip it back on immediately, but I stuck it out.
A few moments passed.
Then, like a little cartoon light bulb, a random thought popped into my head. “Hmmm, interesting,” I pondered for a few moments.
Pop!
Wait, there is another one.
Then like strobe lights, little light bulbs were popping everywhere. Thoughts interrupted thoughts and the rest of my ride flew by as I traveled unknown territory — my mind.
Now, just to clarify, these weren’t mind blowing epiphanies or complex philosophical ruminations. Certainly, I wasn’t breaking any new intellectual ground, but some of the thoughts and ideas were new to me.
Upon arrival at my destination, I started to wonder. Where did all of this pent up mental energy come from? How could I rein it in?
Children are exposed to media about 6 hours a day. TV, radio and the Internet compete for and consume so much of our time. Many people lament the electronic invasion’s effects on all the aspects of American’s lives.
They complain about people zoning out, getting fatter, and missing out on developing social skills by not interacting with other people.
All of these trends appear to be true. But, I think that perhaps an even more alarming consequence of constant entertainment is that we have forgotten how to think.
Thinking sounds easy enough, no sweating involved, right? But, actually it takes some effort and a little practice.
It takes time to formulate an intelligent thought and thoroughly examine all sides and aspects of events, issues and relationships.
If we never have any time to be alone with our thoughts, then how can we even begin to form intelligent thoughts?
When students can’t even walk across campus without tuning into their iPods or talking on their cell phones then we know we are a generation with a problem with silence.
The stillness that breeds contemplation may seem like entering darkness at first, unknown and scary.
But once you enter the darkened room, your eyes adjust and soon you are seeing things you would never have imagined were there if you had immediately gotten up and left.
It’s actually astounding that in this “me generation” where society is telling each of us to “do what you want, when you want, because you deserve it,” most of us take very little time to figure out what that may be.
We are constantly being told to value our individuality and what is more individual then each mind and your thoughts?
Society is just no longer structured to stimulate thought. This is the paradox of advancements that can actually stunt individual progress.
Edison didn’t have the Internet to distract him from his countless attempts before inventing the light bulb and Michelangelo didn’t take painting breaks from the Sistine Chapel to watch “Survivor.”
Even schoolwork is often more about rote memorization, reading and studying simply to echo back ideas rather then fully processing and comprehending them for ourselves.
Over-stimulated and just overwhelmed with information and entertainment choices, the challenge is to quit flipping through all the channels of distraction long enough to even realize that stillness and thinking are missing from our lives.
Then we can begin to find ways to become comfortable with letting it back into our lives.
Turn something off and maybe your mind will turn back on.
Send comments to Amanda at [email protected].
