Phones At Breakfast Tables

Stay home moms prepare breakfast but nobody talks to them before they leave for school or work.

Silence is golden, so the proverb goes, but is it? It presupposes that we respect people who don’t return the fire when someone yells at them.

The proverb implies that silence is a trait, something we value like gold. Platinum is a serious contender to gold right now, especially in the wedding ring department, where it is a status symbol among the wealthy.

Back to silence. It is definitely a requirement in the public library. It is demanded in places like the cinema, courts, church or Wimbledon. However, silence can lose its golden sheen at home because we tend to use home as a taxi rank, train or bus station. We are there killing time waiting to go somewhere ‘important’ like the office, sports arena or the pub.

There are two scenarios. Silence raises concern from people we live with because, they interpret it as depression. What’s wrong? Nothing’s wrong. That is the standard answer, which drives me crazy in movies.

The second scenario is when silence is a declaration of war, of making people uncomfortable to the point of leaving home. Lovers move out when silence becomes unbearable. Some even prefer sleeping in bus shelters, rather than bear intimidating silence.

Phones and other digital devices. I wanted to mention them as a third scenario, but changed my mind. It’s not silence as such because we are online, talking digitally, but it is silence to people at home.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.