Why Quiet Hurts

How anxious teens, a curious question, and Inside Out can help us navigate our experiences of quiet moments in a digital age.

Driving through the rural countryside of Southeast Kansas for work, I occasionally spend considerable time in silence. As MO-171 turns into US-400, I find nearly three hours of minimally interrupted solitude between my home in Southwest Missouri and Bel Aire. Combines have a nasty habit of filling the narrow two-lane highway, but apart from these moments, I am often driving a stretch of road that requires little mental energy to navigate. I drink it in as often as work allows.

Silence, though, is hard. Don’t get me wrong - I love it. I’d say I’m a bit contemplative, with my busy mind craving the rest that silence and solitude provide. When I have the privilege to retreat, I prefer to journal outside in a quiet field or near a stream rather than enter a church, go to a coffee shop, or library. I’m not original in saying any of this, I know.

Despite this inclination to quiet places, silence is challenging for me because it begs to be filled up, and I am a bit of a glutton. I tend to indul…