During my flirtation with buddhism it came up quite often how inured some people are to constant noise. Everyone had stories of people who simply could not cope with a silent retreat.

Some people who are constantly 'on' are avoiding sitting with their own thoughts, in some cases due to treatable psychological conditions. The noise or the activity keeps them from being alone with themselves and sitting in a silent space, all of their intrusive thoughts hit like a ton of bricks and they can't even.

I wonder how much of the noise around us is invited rather than simply tolerated or excused.