The Importance of Quiet

I recently spent a few days in Ontario’s cottage country with some friends. It was freezing cold, we had rain on and off, and there were gusts of winds that almost left me shipwrecked in the middle of the lake when I went out for a kayak paddle. It definitely wasn’t the week of fun in the sun that we were expecting – but surprisingly, what I enjoyed best about the trip was the quiet, and the escape it provided from city life. But what I appreciated most was the fact that we had no internet connection.

The terrible weather on our vacation forced us to remain inside the small cabin. As a result, I spent my time doing something I rarely have the time or attentiveness for: reading (and not an e-reader, an ACTUAL book). In our age of digital overload, it’s easy to spend the majority of your waking hours staring at a screen of some sort.

Contemporary studies have suggested that overexposure to digital screens is causing attention deficit problems and diminishing our interpersonal and intellectual abilities. Researchers and scientists are now promoting the importance of quiet time, and the absence of screens, when possible, to allow for important, but increasingly neglected brain functions such as daydreaming and creative thinking.

I think that the biggest reward of this drizzly, chilly week up north was the lack of buzzes, beeps, pop-ups, and alerts that we have become accustomed to receiving on our various devices. Instead, I got the time read, think, and reflect for a few days.

The first thing I did when I got back home? Checked my email.