Noise-ic

Some updates in my life:

Housewife Radio is still in the works. I am trying to get some people scheduled for this.

Videos with Stan will be forthcoming. It is hard to catch him. He gets busier as he gets older. 

More sewing sketches and paintings.

A sewing project.

A homemade book or magazine--I could have fun with this.

Right now I want to talk about music, or Noisic, that so called musical racket that assaults our ears every day in the market. Are you sick of it?  A lot of people are suffering from hearing problems because of the constant roar.

We have noise pollution laws for the outside (car motor mufflers, airplane, industrial noise laws, and other public noise restraints). Some neighborhoods and motels have restrictions on loud music (Noisic). People aren't even permitted to have loud arguments in public!  When the loud screaming is recorded and broadcast and it is done by a famous musician, it is not considered unethical.

What about mall and shop, restaurant and transportation music? They used to broadcast soft elevator music -- annoying, too, but have you noticed the screaming in popular music ---Noisic, now, in stores?

 I was in the grocery store and thought I was in a place of agony! The screaming was so awful. I asked the customer service about it and they said the local store had no control over that noise, and that it all came from headquarters in another state.

You can hardly get your car filled with fuel without being assaulted with this Noisic. During a car trip we had to stop for a quick bite at an inexpensive place. The Noisic made me feel insane. On the way home we went to a more expensive restaurant and the Noisic was worse. Another lady sitting nearby said it made her sick.

It's awful to see little babies and children exposed to this noise-ic in stores. These innocent sweet things having their minds polluted.  Sometimes I wonder if the reason children in stores scream and cry a lot is because of that awful music being piped in.  The pregnant women must suffer nervous exhaustion from it when they are out, and that has to have an effect on their babies.

Do you recall smoking being banned in public because of the health danger of second-hand smoke for children?  That music, or noise-ic is also a health hazard for children's hearing.

I cringe when I am with my grandchildren and their tender ears are exposed to all that screaming and crashing of so called music (noise-ic).  When the words of the music (noise-ic) can be deciphered, they are always counter to our Christian beliefs. You can research this yourself. I won't go into it here because there is already so much evidence about the harm of this "music" and subsequent undermining of the human mind.

Imagine if we were to take our family into our favorite discount stores and start singing loudly as a group as we rolled our cart through the aisles. We would be drowning out their noise. Do you think anyone would complain, and ask us to shut-up?  Yet we are forced to listen to their choice of music.

I very much appreciate The music in Hobby Lobby.  If I go in there feeling tense, and as stiff as a board, it takes a few paces and my whole body relaxes. Feelings of tension, terror or panic dissipate. (Maybe panic attacks are connected to horrid music.)  If only Hobby Lobby could also be my grocery store, gas station, and restaurant.  I could come home unscathed. With the other stores, I feel like I have returned home from battle.

We have smoke pollution laws and you can not smoke in restaurants or stores or airports. It is much better than 40 years ago when smoke was everywhere. Noise is limited in many areas, but the stores have increased it.

No one is allowed to drink alcohol in public places. You can't walk around in a store or on the street drinking. You can't go near a school with alchohol or cigarettes. Also, there are restrictions of radio music within certain distances of people's homes. 

Of course you can always tell me if I do not like it, I can just stay home. I realize the stores are owned by someone else and are not publically owned and the shoppers have no control over it. The noise is apparently none of our business. I can pack lunches and eat in the car. Yes, I know that. But part of the  enjoyment of a day out is to stop in at a favorite tea room or inexpensive place to eat.

What can the righteous do?

Before you tell me to order online or just use catalogs, please let me say that I already know that.  I do that. But there comes a point where we do have to go out and some of us used to love going to town, to walk the sidewalks of our pretty little community and enjoy life. Why should we be run out of town? We are decent people who do no harm. We spend money. Without us, these places cannot survive. 

So here are some ideas.

1. Contact the stores, and other types of businesses you frequent and politely ask them if they would consider having a quiet time without music in the stores. Tell them the more music you have to hear, the less you spend and the faster you want to get out of there. If you have children, express concern about damage to their hearing. You can do this online or by filling out a customer card.  Keep in mind, however, they have the upper hand. I rarely have had lasting results from this, but it is worth a try.  

Personally I dislike spending my valuable time as an activist. I need to shop and get home and be happy. I do not want to fill out cards or go online and fill out more things in order to change something in the public.  I also don't like saying rude things to people and most of the time the store employees do not know what to do about it. I do not want to  ruin my own day by complaining.  But these are a few suggestions for brave hearts.

2. Go out in the early mornings. They don't rev up the music as bad til later in the day. 

3. Say emphatically at customer service area and to the check-out clerk, and any manager you see, "That music is TERRIBLE! I would have stayed longer and bought more things I needed but I feel like running away!   They often complain about it too. I was talking to a man cutting fabric at JoAnns the other day and he said the music drives him nuts and he can't get away from it. So even the employees hate it. There is another man who cuts fabric at WalMart who says he hates the music, too.

4.  Create a sound barrier.  I thought about wearing earphones while out doing necessary shopping, getting gas, etc., and listening to my own preferred music, but that costs money, and why should I have to?  Besides, they are inconvenient because you have to remove them when anyone talks to you.

 Why not just hum? It is more portable and less stuff to pack. The next time I went to a public place I started to hum and sing. I managed to block out the noise-ic for myself at least.

In a restaurant I encouraged my grandchildren to hum tunes as though they were playing a fiddle or a guitar. If they did it together they could hum at the table with just enough volume not to disturb any other customers, but still create a barrier from the piped-in music.  

5. Converse with no air space. When in stores or other public places, if you are with someone, talk about the products, the menus, the shopping list, or anything else, without allowing enough space between sentences for the offensive music to get in to your head.  I have tried this and it works.  The only problem is: there goes your plans for a nice quiet excursion.

6. Talk to yourself as you read your list. Read the label aloud, read the price aloud and say things like, "Now let me see what else is on my list. How am I doing for time? Only 15 minutes left? I better hurry along quickly now. Oops, I forgot the North Dakota Mountain Unbleached, unbromated flour in the blue bag."

7. There are now services for shoppers where you shop online and go pick up your groceries later at a drive through. This is nice but we are missing something. The market system goes way back to the beginning of time when people got out in public to trade and buy and sell in a vibrant and energetic way.  We are being cut off of the enjoyment of trade, the stimulating of our intellect and our creative ways.

  I grew up on a homestead, using catalogs and ordering case-lots, but I sure looked forward to going to town because it was a lot prettier and the merchandise could be compared and touched and selected by using all my senses.  That is what is missing when ordering online: using all your senses. Besides that, getting into town gave us a chance to see other human beings and have a reason to look our best and to socialize.

We have no choice in the music that is forced in our heads. No wonder we are so tense and so upset. And now I see why there is so much hearing loss, even in the very young. Our ears are thumping and vibrating and so rattled, we cannot hear the small, sweet noises of nature. We cannot concentrate on our shopping.

  I remember when shop owners wanted your visit to be a pleasant experience. They knew you would come back, if it was a good memory.  But now,  because of the noise of the rotten music, we shop with a grim attitude, as an unpleasant duty we want to get out of the way as quickly as possible.

I recall a man who was always asked to offer the closing prayer at church services. He would say, "Dear Lord, help us to enjoy every moment of this wonderful life you have given us."  I thought about that a lot, and when raising my children, tried to make shopping and working and learning and family enjoyable and not grueling and unpleasant like the world wants life to be.  

Of all the suggestions I listed for reducing the noise-ic, what do you vote for? I vote for the humming. I absolutely enjoy a good hymn or humming my thoughts. I can hum a thought-song. (Is that like a thought-crime? I do not know.)  Do you not remember when an annoying sibling hummed unspoken words? "You were wrong and I was right?"  never saying the words aloud? He knew he could not get in trouble for it. You can hum a prayer, hum a hymn.

This was a long discourse to get one point across, and I do appreciate the time and effort you have taken to read it,  If you suffer from the Noise-ic, please let me know in a comment below.

If you do not know a song, just make up your own and hum it. People used to hum and sing when they were out in public -  did you know that?  

My second choice is reading the name of the product aloud and the price.   I was listening to one of the younger grandchildren humming and singing his own tune.  I really enjoyed that. There is so much noise-ic in public places we must of necessity be in,  that young mothers are innudated with noise, so much so, that the noise of their own children irritates them.

Some people are absolutely not bothered by the music.  I understand that. Just as some people are more sensitive to scents and smells, and sights, there are those who are very sensitive to noise.