Do You Consent to Noise?

Consider looking up "Fabiform" (meaning "shaped like a bean") in different dictionaries. A physical dictionary's extra information is limited to nearby words like "faber" and "fabel" encountered while searching. An online dictionary provides the same definition but adds unwanted banner ads promoting "50% off" sales or "get now" offers - information completely unrelated to the original search.

This is noise: information never asked for, thrust upon users simply for using a digital tool. Noise represents any unwanted information, extending far beyond audible sounds. In the digital world, consent to receive information often goes unquestioned - using a tool means implicitly agreeing to whatever content comes with it, whether graphics, text, or other media.

Do you want browser pop-up ads, pushed social media videos, or unsolicited news? Did you choose to receive this information? This implicit agreement explains why many digital tools are free - companies profit by selling users' attention to advertisers through unwanted content. Consent to noise becomes the true cost of these services, a trade-off that appears even in basic tasks like dictionary searches.

While an ad might offer savings, dictionary users seek definitions, not shopping opportunities. Similarly, social media visits intended for connecting with friends become derailed by random videos and celebrity news. In both cases, the noise diverts attention from original intentions, and users never explicitly consented to this diversion.

Physical noise exists but differs fundamentally from digital noise. The physical world's ambient noise - posters, flyers, car honks, advertising slogans, retail displays, and street music - operates differently in three key ways. First, physical noise isn't personally targeted. Second, it can't be acted on immediately (no 'Buy Now' or 'Click Here' buttons). Third, it fades once the space is left. While a utility pole advertisement quickly disappears as new distractions emerge, digital noise follows users with persistent, personalized content that remembers interests and behaviors.

Between information and its receivers, noise is inevitable and subjective; what constitutes noise depends entirely on the receiver's judgment. Digital noise permeates silently, without assaulting eardrums or causing physical discomfort, making it more insidious and difficult to detect. The mind serves as the only defense against digital noise, yet its threshold for noise tolerance is difficult to perceive. While ears recognize a siren's blare, noses recoil from foul smells, eyes squint against bright light, and tongues reject bitter tastes, the mind remains perpetually bombarded with information, even during sleep.

Training the mind to sense noise requires deliberate recalibration through reduced information exposure. Like physical senses that respond to environmental stimuli, the mind requires periods of quiet to restore noise awareness and redefine thresholds. This recalibration helps distinguish between information chosen to receive and noise thrust upon consciousness.

Practical steps include:

• Creating electronics-free zones as the default, using devices only in designated areas. This restores the sense of what baseline quiet feels like.
• Taking daily walks in nature or quiet spaces like libraries and empty cafes. Physical movement away from screens helps reset mental noise tolerance.
• Practicing meditation or breathing exercises regularly. These train the mind to notice when unwanted information intrudes on attention.
• Starting each morning device-free for at least one hour. Beginning the day without digital noise establishes a clearer threshold for what gets willingly invited in later.

These practices, when made habitual, allow better focus on essential information and more conscious choices about digital engagement. The relationship with digital tools can shift from passive acceptance to something closer to active consent. Noticing when noise appears is the first step. Recognizing the option to refuse it is the second.