The sounds of silence

I've noticed an annoying speech pattern recently. People are afraid of silence.

It's highly recognizable in television commercials. Too often, that means marketers find young people speak this way - as that's the only ones they try to address outside the nightly national news - or the agency people are all that age and reflecting their own cadence. Either way, it means this is the way the next - or is it current - generation speaks.

The style is to refuse to let there be silence, to never end a thought and begin another. The speaker reaches the end of a thought and says "sooooo" until the next thought is expressed. Or says "annnnd" at the end of each thought. It ranges from the people fishing for love in EHarmony testimonials to the philanthropist who gives away shoes thanks to his cell phone.

I have a friend in which I recognize this too. Although I've known him for a decade and a half, he seems to squirm if common conversation lulls. "Sooooo," he'll say out of the blue. Worse is when he spouts "it is what it is." Even he's noted this annoyance, but utilizes it like a heroin addict taps methadone for relief.

Silence in conversation lets us process. It lets the less aggressive have a chance to chime in. It lets the conversation current drift and move somewhere else.

Maybe that's why this trend exists. There are people who need to not be required to think through their comments, to hold the stage forever and to control it all.

Or maybe they're just afraid they'll hear themselves in the silence and it will embarrass them.