Following up on my post about TMID – Too Much Information Disorder, Mr. Seth Godin sent out a post about NOISE which I must say is ironic being a huge, daily contributor to it that he is.
My question goes out in response – Is it noise if no one hears it?
The way I see it, posting to the internet is a relatively quiet experience – thoughts travel through fingers to keyboards and emerge across the screen silent and temporary until the send button is depressed and the words go out to wait for other eyes to read them. But until that happens there is silence. The words remain unheard. The reader, not the writer, makes the noise.
Go ahead and get noisy in the comments below about who you think is responsible for the noise and if is it really a problem at all.
Hmm. Interesting. And doesn’t just apply to the Internet really. I’m thinking TV here. If someone else has it on and I’m trying to focus on something, then it’s noise to me. If it’s what I want to watch, it’s not! Which kind of goes along with your thoughts on the reader being the creator of the noise, because he/she is the one taking the information in and then making the judgment. Until the judgment’s made, the content is neutral.
Good point about the judgment. Noise can bombard us, entertain us, soothe us, inspire us, annoy us… it all depends on the reaction of the recipient doesn’t it? And if the receiver is turned off, there isn’t any noise to judge, no matter how much is being transmitted across all the airwaves. Perhaps silence is a choice we always have available to us, after all.
I read Seth’s post and I was the same like you, isn’t it IRONIC, doncha think? What a totally kewl concept, we as the readers are the noise … hmmm … however, how can it be noisy when I am sitting here in utter silence, reading, ok, yeah, the typing on the keyboard is making noise, but who is hearing it, just me.
Since the reference is really to feeling overwhelmed. The noisy part, as I see it, is the internal chatter that is triggered as we read, reflect, and react. Words on their own are nothing until we assign meaning to them. They don’t make a sound. That comes entirely from our us.
Great question, interesting how Seth puts things that resonate for me
Yes we are the noise and some of us get not to notice the noise- my other half and then there is me who hears too much noise.
I try to be less influenced ny noise and stopping it being a distraction
Suzie