repurpose background noise
In Maybe turn off the background noise, Prasatt was struck by this quote from No Sidebar's 12 Distractions to Leave Behind in 2026:
Some homes have a soundtrack all day long. A podcast while getting ready. Music while working. TV while eating. A video while cleaning.
None of this is inherently wrong. But constant noise trains your mind to avoid silence. And silence is where you notice what you actually feel.
Leave space for your own voice.
While similar media accompanies Prasatt and I throughout our days, so many more background noises grace our lives. Human voices, animal utterances, analog activities, and even the forces of nature interject both silence and noise. What specific background noises entertain, surprise, or inspire you? Better yet, how does their collective repertoire evolve over time?
You can balance silence and noise while increasing the potency of both stimuli. For example: besides creating space for more silence in your life, consider creatively repurposing background noise. The live stream exchange from do both things and the overheard conversation from cartwheels versus excuses brought their respective posts to life. What noises brought posts of your own to life?
Similar background noises from lurking on Twitch streams must have informed a barrel of words' An invite to bear lurkers. Streams with few enough people enable the fun of meaningful synchronous interactions with streamers and fellow audience members alike. Even lurkers' presence and sparing contributions can play rather active roles. Compare that malleability to the rigid, asynchronous nature of pre-recorded media: music, TV, videos, and more. You can take advantage of live media, converting what would otherwise remain as background noise into a collaborative effort where everyone wins.
How else can background noise be repurposed to benefit you, if not everyone around you?