"Too many things crowd in on us; too many images press in upon our souls. There is no more silent peace in the soul; only momentary lapses from the noise. Even more confusing to us is the fact that even the images that should bring us peace are being used to remind us of the lack of peace around us, and they are deployed to provoke us into buying deadening substitutes for the silence that will not come; they jostle for position among all the rest of the demanding images clamouring for attention. Silence is gone: what remains is abashed muteness and empty anxiety. Silence is no more than a "structural fault" in the everlasting flow of noise."
Max Picard, the World of Silence.