Constant chatter

I forget that we live in a world that is in constant communication. I met a friend for lunch the other day and as I walked through the sky ways lost in my own thoughts, I suddenly realized people don't really know how to be quiet anymore. We have become so dependant on being in constant communication with people that we forget how to be silent.

Is this why I can't get my mind to stop racing? Is this why I wake up fully at 2:30 am with my head spinning searching for answers to things? We text, talk on the phone or face to face all day long. How can we exist otherwise? As I walked the few blocks through the sky way in silence, well silence for me because I left my phone on my desk and I was alone, but as I wandered I was uber aware of all the people walking and talking on their phones or wearing those stupid ear buds that make you think they are talking to you or looking down texting. No one I passed was silent.

Do we become so accustomed to being constantly connected that we don't know how NOT to be? This made me think of last summer when I was up at my friends cabin on the outskirts of the Boundary Waters and we had NO phone signal, there aren't any towers until you get into town. On one hand it was blissful but on the other hand, I really felt isolated and out of touch. I was able to get some good thinking done but it also sort of stressed me out that I couldn't text, get text messages or phone calls. Although truth be told, I'm a huge texter vs. phone person.

How important is it to be constantly connected to another person? Do we need to always have that other person around us to validate us, give us purpose, make us feel included or do we use them to escape the reality that is our own lives? Seems like the monks might have something when they take to their own worlds and remain silent. I wonder how long I could actually be silent. And if you are silent long enough, does the internal chatter turn up or go away?

Is conversation over rated? I have a friend that says he has nothing to say to anybody. Is that really true? Can that be true....can we actually have nothing more to say to anyone? Sometimes its nice to just sit with someone, just sit with nothing to say....just be. I wonder why we don't do that more?

Can a person live without any interaction from others? Would we want to? Don't we feed off of people? Use them to help us get thorough our days? Ever have those days where you don't leave your house and have had no interaction with another human....it's almost like you can't function once you become part of society again. I can't imagine what a few days of that would do to me.

I can't speak for anyone else but I need to have that connection to others. I need interaction, I need conversation and I need my texting!