By Anonymous
Mediated Environment:
A twenty-year-old man on Reddit pleads for help- his girlfriend is pregnant, and she wants to put the baby up for adoption. He is vehemently against this and wants to know what legal action he can take to keep the baby. Reddit suggests registering with his state’s punitive father registry and to get a family lawyer, but also cautions against becoming a single father at such a young age. The man gives an update- he is not the father. His girlfriend cheated on him with a married man, the same man who was going to adopt the baby from her. He tells the married man’s wife, and she quickly files for divorce. The baby was born, and the formerly married man and the ex-girlfriend now share an apartment together.
A forty-seven-year-old mother asks Reddit if she was wrong to forbid her daughter, Sara, from using the money allocated for Sara’s college tuition on her boyfriend. Sara is a bright young woman who received a full ride to the university of her choice. She told her boyfriend excitedly, only for her boyfriend to ask her to stay in town and live off his parent’s support instead. He told Sara he didn’t approve of her going to college so far away, and the fact she had a clear path for her future and he didn’t was emasculating. Instead, the college fund should be used to support Brian’s dreams. The mother, after hearing this, tells Sara she cannot use the money on Brian, and gently asks if she can truly see a future with Brian. Sara cries and says no, before breaking up with Brian. The mother feels guilty for the breakup and asks if she did the right thing. Reddit overwhelmingly says she did. The boyfriend was later arrested for assaulting a police officer, after he was caught blocking Sara’s car with some friends.
At this point, four minutes have passed
I continue onward, scrolling through reddit and Instagram and reading the various stories from people all over the world. The Canada truck protestors are demanding food from homeless shelters, as businesses will not serve them without a mask. A Tumblr user whose post has found its way to Instagram, explains the concept of super modernity and junk spaces- area with no identity or emotional connection existing to fulfill a single purpose and nothing more. They discuss Marc Auge and Rem Koolhaas, both of whom have addressed this concept in their own way. An Instagram post brings attention to fast fashion and advocates for treating clothing purchases like tattoo purchases, in the sense that you keep them forever. I scroll for longer, reading post upon post, story upon story. I encounter so much knowledge- however, at the end of the hour I’ve hardly retained any of it.
Naturalistic Setting:
I walk around George Mason University, taking care to stay near more naturalistic settings such as Mason Pond. I typically walk with my headphones in, listening to YouTube videos or music. However, today I walk with nothing- just my mind to keep me company. I circle around the pond, admiring its beauty. I’ve walked by here plenty of times in the past, usually on my way to the local Giant. I’ve always loved the path next to it- surrounded by trees, to the point where you can almost ignore the surrounding buildings. I look at the snow covering the ground and think of how pretty it looks. But then I find my thoughts drifting to my responsibilities. There are still dishes in the sink- I should really take care of them. What projects do I have this week? Am I still ahead? Should I have dropped that class? No, it’s important for your major. I should do laundry when I get back. Or should I just clean the whole apartment? Can’t be a slob, after all. Am I doing things right? What if, ten years down the line, I discover that none of this is what I wanted. Am I a failure?
Like so many times before, thoughts come rushing in. I usually surround myself with a moat of music to keep them at bay, but this time there is nothing. I force myself to think of a distraction, to not succumb to anxiety. I succeed, finding a daydream and thrusting myself in it. The thoughts fade away, waiting until they can return in a moment where nothing else is present. I walk around longer, listening to the music in my head before I turn and walk back towards the dorms.
Summary:
This experiment emphasized what I already knew about myself- namely, the fact that I need some sort of stimulation to truly enjoy what’s around me. Silence and loud noises make me anxious when I’m not in control of them- it either feels like my skin is crawling from the lack of stimulation, or my head is going to explode from too much. It’s why I always keep my headphones near me- I need to feel like I can control how much noise there is around me, otherwise I panic. Not to say it’s like this all the time- there are moments where I can live comfortably with the world around me. But they’re a safety net, should the need arise.
Even before this assignment, I knew I relied heavily on my headphones. I struggle with shutting off my thoughts by myself, most likely because I’ve used escapes such as music and video games for so long. Instant gratification is easy and plentiful, but it doesn’t make you better in the long run. However, like McKibben says- neither lifestyle is inducive to a happy life, and there will always be some sort of balance. For me, I think that balance will come in the form of limiting my time listening to music or podcasts. When I go for walks, I’ll take half of it walking with music, and half of it walking in silence. Maybe at some point I’ll be at a place where I am comfortable with my thoughts and don’t need the distractions. Maybe it’ll come by letting myself think, rather than pushing everything away. However, that point will come in time- for now, I will continue taking baby steps to end the deafening silence.