White Noise refers to sounds that mask other sounds that might occur naturally in an environment. During my day job (pre-pandemic), I work in a large office building that uses white noise to drown out some of the noises that might be heard in complete silence. Have you ever been in complete silence, then heard someone try to have a conversation? It’s impossible not to hear!
In our world today, it’s impossible to go through life without hearing voices, without hearing noises that infiltrate even the most protected mind. Many parents try to protect their kids as long as possible from the negative or poisonous views of society, but that can only last for so long. When young people launch into the world, they are normally shocked by the immensity of their culture, and can often be overwhelmed. Most of us end up giving in to the flood of information and voices that come in every day and can almost become numb to the flow. Some even try to convince themselves that they’re “ignoring it” or are “not affected” by it.
But truthfully we are all influenced by the environment we are in – fish only know water and in the 21st century, we only know an influx of information. To protect ourselves from the voices, we need a form of “white noise” – protection from the flood. If we don’t have the protection of the white noise, it’s very normal to be negative and hurt by other people’s voices – and even of our own voice. If the only person I’m listening to is myself, maybe it’s time to have someone else’s voice in my head.
This is where I have learned the habit of NET learning – “no extra time” learning, that normally comes in the form of Listening to principle-based, motivational audios/teachings/podcasts. NET learning means that I listen to these audios while going through the monotonous activities of my day – I listen in my car, I listen while doing dishes, I listen while doing laundry, I listen while I play a video game, I listen while I prepare dinner, or I listen during my lunch breaks at work. I understand that there are varied schedules of the readers who are reading this, but the point is straightforward – all of us can find time in our schedule for white noise if we choose to, even if it’s not much at the beginning.
A couple of precautions we should take when choosing your “white noise.” First of all, it needs to be directionally correct with your principles and values. Many people don’t understand the impact that is happening in their families and in themselves when they listen to and watch things that are not in line with their values. This creates “cognitive dissonance” inside of us, where the values we SAY we believe in are not in agreement with the inputs of our lifestyle. We must make sure that the things that are coming in our “eye-holes” and our “ear-holes” are in line with where we want our life to go.
Also we should make sure that this white noise is positive. It’s very obvious in our society today that dissension is the goal of most media, encouraging people to pick a side and to throw rocks at those who don’t agree. While I’m not specifically bashing the media of news or politics, statistics show us that a majority of people in American society have the television on in their house for at least 4 hours a day… and based on the results that we are seeing in American society, I’m not sure that the white noise of those televisions are positive or uplifting. To have positive changes in our lives, we must choose white noise that is positive.
One last note – the goal of this article is to help us use white noise of listening to good information in our own lives. To use a Biblical example, let’s not spend too much time picking splinters out of other people’s eyes; the odds are pretty good that we have a couple of 2 x 4’s sticking out of our own. Yes, if you are mentoring someone and they’re asking for perspective, there is a time and place to shine a spotlight on something if they are looking to make a positive change. But we live in a society where many people spend a majority of their time pointing fingers instead of taking personal responsibility.
I have my own white noise – I hope that you find your own.
Chris Craft
The Soapbox 