The Silent Floor

The silent floor in the library is turning out to be my happy place for productive, uninterrupted, focused, get-it-done work spot.  It is so hard to find silence these days that this place is like academic sacred ground as far as I'm concerned.

Our culture is so full of chatter all the time that spaces dedicated to silence are increasingly hard to find.  The library where I used to work made it a point to celebrate the library as a social hotspot on campus, and even the Santa Cruz Public Library advertises "Turns Out the Library Has Nothing to Do with Silence."  Even the quiet floor has its talkers...and I'll admit that I'm usually the person that walks over and politely reminds them that this is the quiet floor and to please shut the f*ck up!  

I'm a talker, but I need the balance of quiet at times as much as I need conversation at other times.  I'm not trying to be nostalgic or anything, but in my undergraduate days, you could hear a pin drop in the silent area of the library where I would study.  In fact, I used to also spend a lot of time in communal reading rooms as well which weren't designated silent, but that were very quiet with only an occasional greeting or whisper to be heard.  Maybe I'm exaggerating, but it actually feels like the music in coffeehouses is louder than it used to be as well....

Given how hard it's been to seek out a silent place to focus in on deep study, I'm wondering how all of this noise is changing the way that the learning environment is changing.  In fact, how does this change general knowledge development for people reading or doing other enriching activities in public places?  It's almost like instead of providing plenty of quiet places for students on campus, there are more places for "group study."  In order to center on his/her work the successful student will have the ability to thrive in an environment of distractions.  

And I have to wonder, what are the consequences of finding fewer and fewer spaces for quietude beyond its effects on students?