on cultural noise
“Where does this stuff come from? It comes from sensory deprivation. It comes from turning down all the volume knobs to the one setting—or somewhere between zero and one—on everything, so I can actually hear myself think and I can actually poke around inside myself. We’re all so used to cultural noise being played at full volume. It can come as a surprise, even to myself, how much you can know about what’s going on by listening to almost nothing. It’s important, because if you have it up at full volume, you can’t hear yourself think, and all you want to do is chase after the stuff that’s going on.”—
The only Franzen I’ve read is a recent short story in The New Yorker. The Corrections has been on my list since I lived in St. Louis, and intend to pick up a copy of Freedom in the near future. So my response to the above relates exclusively to Franzen’s described process.
Since Monday I’ve been re-adjusting to day-to-day life after returning from a week-long vacation. In Florida we rented a beach house that happened to lie in a dead zone for both Verizon and AT&T networks. So I received no phone calls or text messages, and the majority of my internet browsing had two purposes: to readjust the Pandora radio while we barbequed and played board games or check the weather forecast in the morning.
Now that I’m back, I feel somewhat culture shocked. Digesting twitter and tumblr, I feel more frantic than fulfilled. I burn out faster when sorting email — either work or personal.
I’ll find my digital sea legs again. I think re-adjustment is inevitable. But as I think about how to balance my social, work, and artistic life, I’m going to look for opportunities to turn down the volume. Peace and quiet should exist outside of vacation mode.
