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Comment by cyberferret | Hacker News Reader

"Silence is the perfectest herald of joy" - William Shakespeare

I may get downvoted as just an old man yelling at clouds, but I wish that people would actually take more time to enjoy silence in its own right.

My own kids seem to like doing everything with a pair of headphones on, or a video playing on their devices constantly, but some of my own moments of pure bliss have been sitting in my garden, sans technology, with a book or just petting my cat and stopping to breathe, listen to the sounds of nature and think about ideas.

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> I wish that people would actually take more time to enjoy silence in its own right.

It's pretty hard to enjoy silence in two second chunks.

Someone might use smartspeed to save half an hour, and then use that time to enjoy nature uninterrupted.

I'm not going to downvote you, but you basically are yelling at clouds. The two kinds of 'silence' are completely unrelated.

There is silence which is bad editing or a disorganised podcast, and there is silence which is intentional, after a particular point has been made or idea been voiced.

Even two seconds of silent time is useful to ponder and reflect. When I am not in 'flow' state while working, I will often just look away from the screen to pat my cat or pick up my guitar for a few seconds to noodle unplugged. I find that helps me to step down from frenetic brain activity and let my subconscious stew on things.

To equate it to a musical analogy - sometimes it is the space between the notes. As much as I respect the technical ability of guitarists that can cram 3000 notes per minute in a long shred solo, I cannot listen to that for more than 30 seconds before my brain is screaming for some relief. I would much rather listen to a blues guitarist or saxophonist play a few notes with enough pauses between phrases to fully appreciate them and wait for the next one with anticipation.

There is artistic silence where thoughtful purpose is put to the distance between things, there is autonomous silence where you get to take the opportunity to make space between things, then there's silence that is forced on you.

Some silence just is not enriching. I would rather spend an hour in a forest than waiting at the DMV. I would rather enjoy a cup of coffee than wait 10 minutes for a colleague to arrive on time to a meeting.

There are some things that are worth experiencing in their fullest, and there are some things that are only worth experiencing by skimming through.

Like some books are worth deep study, reading, rereading, analyzing, digging, and getting every ounce of value from them. Others give all they have in a rush.

I will be a relatively young man joining you in yelling at the clouds.

I am in my 20s now but I do agree with you. I enjoy just being with silence around me, especially when reading.

I mostly agree, except it can be almost impossible to find an interruption free environment. Many work in an open office (blech) and live in thin-walled apartments with music-pounding (or just floor stomping) neighbors. The only "silent" time I can get is in the car or late at night when everyone else is asleep. I wish I could find genuine silence. Half of my headphone time is done without anything actually playing. It's to drown out the incessant noise around me.

Yeah, one of the reasons I value silence so much is because I don't get a lot of it during the day. I work in an open office, I use public transport, I go to a swimming pool. At evenings I usually spent some time with my wife. So by the time I have some silence, it is night. If, our neighbours are not being too loud of course.

As a consequence, I really appreciate the quiet moments and nature walks etc.

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