Sometimes, the best communicative behaviour is silence. And it is not just the ‘absence of sound or noise’, whether ‘intrinsic’, ‘introjected’, ‘hostile’ or punitive. It is muteness, that is, non-communicative action – including non-expressive and non-responsive or non-reactive states in the non-verbal sphere, whether metacommunication and paralanguage.
Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann, the German political scientist, whose theory of ‘spiral of silence’ has been found to be of great value in communication arts, asserted that many tended to remain silent especially in the sphere of political participation because they feel their opinions ‘are in the minority’ and they fear social isolation. So, if people feel their opinions are not ‘politically correct’, to use a more trending parlance, they may not want to express it. The PEW Research Centre published study undertaken by Hampton et al. (2014), as well as many other studies including Christian Fuchs’, the Austrian professor of social media, particularly his book, SOCIAL MEDIA: A CRITICAL INTRODUCTION (2021), have actually hinted about the relevance of Noelle-Neumann’s thesis in the age of social media. Fuchs was particularly unsparing in his critique of status conferral power of Twitter (now X). To him social media largely reinforce the fame of the ruling elite. By way of extrapolation, that may account for some people’s silence. Today, many people do a lot of social listening online, justifiable by spiral of silence model. Even some influencers fear expressing certain opinions if they feel it will be unpopular among their followers. I do not need to reference the howling and trolling that come with our often controversial national political debates on social media.
However, if silence is deployed at the most auspicious time, especially to indicate attention, disapproval, withdrawal or other indications of protest or even for recreational and meditational purposes, it can be the most potent form of communication. As a tool of solemnity, it could signal a retreat to more intrapersonal communication mode to permit for circumspection and more profound thinking that enable us to gain clarity through emotional recollection.
Because silence is a communication form, it transcends the absence of noise and can hurt or heal. Thus, like other forms of communication, it can be misinterpreted. Some researchers have warned of its dangers, especially if it’s allowed to slip into depression, potentially from meditational exercises.
Reflecting on the paradox of silence, Sarah Monk (2018) cited Ross (2014) to advance the thought that silence is concurrently contextual and processual, ‘evolutionarily necessary for our survival and also a choice.’ The latter serving a metaphorical purpose but overall holding the promise ‘for the balance of dialectical conflicts’. I strongly believe the dialectical strand, especially in the transition from chaos to tranquility.
So, despite the inherent dangers, especially if it slips out of control, it would seem the benefits of silence are huge, reckoning from the premise that too much noise is unhealthy. By noise, I meant sounds, given that Professors Daniel Kahneman, Olivier Sibony and Cass Sunstein in, NOISE: A FLAW IN HUMAN JUDGEMENT(2021) have shifted the paradigm of what we (students of communication science) hitherto considered as noise. Kahneman et al. contend that fundamentally, dialectics of policies (laws, guidelines inclusive), and perhaps orientational issues and individualism, could be the bases for error of judgement, a phenomenon they have characterised as noise in the emerging history of knowledge.
Nevertheless, noise, the one associated with sounds, in the perceptive reasoning of Monk, can reduce blood pressure, promote hormone regulation, and boost immunity. Sarah Monk also reasoned that if we apply silence appropriately, it may nudge us to creativity, focus, self-awareness, self-control, perspective and spirituality. We can achieve this by sitting in the church or mosque quietly during lunch break, taking a walk in a safe neighbourhood or even sitting in our gardens, to mention a few instances of ‘routes of silence’.
Finally, we must be able to interpret silence. For instance, in relationship management, whether romantic, platonic or corporate, we should have the capacity and aptitude to discern silence that is disapproving from the one telling us that we are being listened to attentively.
POSTSCRIPT: Gidado Shuaib took this shot, unbeknown to me, while I listened to a very personal interaction on the margins of a public event recently.
