Why is this generation so against silence?

It is not uncommon to see people walking down the street, catching buses or trains wearing headphones or ear plugs, blocking the outside noise with music or podcasts. While for some it may be like white noise cancelling the external commotion, it still is far away from silence.

Silence, which has been an integral part of human existence, has now become too uncomfortable for many, experts have said.

Dr. Munia Bhattacharya, a senior clinical psychologist at Marengo Asia Hospitals (Gurugram) described a patient encounter where a 32-year-old, seemingly professional, articulate with words and a self aware man paused before saying the vulnerable words.

“I feel uneasy when it gets quiet. I don’t know why but I immediately pick up the phone to avoid discomfort.”

There is a kind of restlessness that develops when nothing is happening externally, said Dr. Bhattacharya in his attempt to explain the growing discomfort towards silence.

Not merely absence of noise

As per Psychology Today, silence can be described as purposeful quiet. Mental quiet has many useful purposes, both for physical and emotional health.

It has been frequently associated with self consciousness practices like meditation and cognitive processes like deep thinking and emotional regulation.

For years, silence has carried both scientific and spiritual existence in societies and was rarely seen as an absence of noise.

“Silence has its own movement, and it penetrates into the depths, into every corner of the mind,” said Jiddu Krishnamurti, a renowned Indian philosopher, speaker and writer. 

However, today people have developed intolerance for silence, some even dread it, said experts.

Silence and substitutes

Moments of silence are being deliberately filled with conversations, music and other substitutes.

As per data provided by Spotify, there are about 83 million active users as of early 2025, listening to various genres of music.

Likewise, India has millions of people who are actively listening to podcasts. 

India with its 57.6 million monthly listeners is becoming the third largest podcast listening market in the world, said a study by PwC (PricewaterhouseCoopers), a global network of firms providing various business services.

Many people listen to music or podcasts while stuck in travel, others while traveling to work or school, some during work and others at the end of the day or weekends.

Some research suggests that music can sometimes act equivalent to white noise and help people concentrate on the task, silencing background distractions.

If not a cognitive filler, people look for a substitute in the external world, like picking up a physical task for distraction, for instance, sports, cleaning or mingling with others.

There is a growing trend of people not wanting to sit in silence or alone with their thoughts, experts have said.

While in some cultures like the Japanese, people are more tolerant of silence and according to a study can sit with it for up to 8.2 seconds, others find silence as awkward or embarrassing.

The dreaded silence

Research has found out that conversations are associated with feelings of belongingness and social validation whereas silence promotes feelings of rejection, restlessness and other negative emotions.

Constant background stimulation is making people desensitized, said experts.

“If we look at how a typical day unfolds, it is not hard to see why. The morning often begins with a phone screen. Messages, notifications, and news. The day continues with calls, meetings, and conversations. Even in between, there is rarely a pause. There is scrolling, music, something always playing in the background. The mind gets used to it,” said Dr. Bhattacharya.

When the brain is constantly stimulated, the baseline shifts. What used to feel engaging becomes ordinary. And when there is suddenly less input, it does not feel calm and feels like something is missing, he added.

What silence brings with it?

Experts have found that when the brain is not engaged in any activity, it tends to drift towards unresolved issues, inner conflicts and difficult emotions that can overwhelm people.

As per Healthline, the brain goes in a default mode network where it starts to process experiences and emotions more effectively.

“In sessions, when I gently suggest my patients to sit quietly, even for a minute or two, there is often hesitation. Not because they cannot do it but because of what tends to come up in those moments. Unfinished conversations, lingering worries and self doubt. Thoughts that were easier to ignore when the mind was occupied,” said Dr. Bhattacharya.

The expert said that people can often confuse this emotional discomfort with boredom, particularly when it causes them to face long standing emotions.

There are also some neurological explanations to the growing aversion towards silence.

Speaking to DH, Dr. Pavitra Shankar, a psychiatrist at Aakash Healthcare (Dwarka) said: “Quick, rewarding media like music or engaging verbal content can affect levels of dopamine, the reward hormone in the body. Over time, reduced sensitivity to dopamine can cause less rewarding sensory experiences like silence to become too ordinary or uncomfortable to engage with.”

Overtime, disengaging with silence can also impact decision making, said experts.

“Clarity often needs some amount of internal stillness. The more we become avoidant of silence, the more it clouds our judgement,” said Bhattacharya.

Taking intentional pauses

Narrating a patient experience, Dr. Bhattacharya said that one of his patients had deliberately stopped picking up the phone when silence clicks in.

“It may feel unfamiliar at first. Some people describe it as a strange feeling and a few say it is slightly uncomfortable. But once the withdrawal symptoms subside, this is the point where people stop resisting it,” the expert explained.

The expert said the felt discomfort is simply the mind adjusting to something it has not been given space to do for a while.

“The same silence that once felt heavy begins to feel manageable. Thoughts do not come all at once and emotions seem to settle a little faster. Also, there is less urgency to escape. It is where the mind processes, where things settle, where clarity begins to take shape and one is more satisfied with the present,” said Dr. Bhattacharya.

Silence also enables people to live in the present and enhances sensory experiences.

As per experts, the question must not be around the discomfort of silence but around why humans stopped to experience it at all.