> Complete silence apparently bothers some people

I think this is related to the point the author makes: You need to find connection with yourself.

I think that being in the silence, alone is where that connection is being made. And some people are so not used to it, that this scares them. I cannot otherwise explain people's desire to be constantly surrounded by some noise, be it TV, radio, music in their headphones, whatever. How about just sitting ten minutes in silence? Or even better, half an hour in the nature, without boomboxes and headphones?

My other idea, which I cannot prove, that the state of the mental health in US is correlated to the point above. When introverts are looked upon as some sick weirdos, when there is a culture of constant superficial socializing, when deep discussions are replaced by knee-jerk reactions, profile picture frames, and putting on labels on things, and when you are still affraid to know yourself—surely this should come out sideways somehow. I single out US because I know no other country with so much push for the extrovert behaviour.

I've spend a lot of time being alone while growing up and in my university days. It came at a cost, and I wish I had socialized a bit more back then, but overall I consider it to be enormous net positive thing.