Sunday, July 13, 2008

Fact or Fiction

Fact or Fiction: The average amount of silence between conversations is 7 minutes.



I often enjoy a nice long drive with friend(s) to get away from the hustle and bustle of New York City. Don't get me wrong... I'm a true die-hard Jersey Yorker (n. one who lives in NJ and works/ parties in NYC --- I made that up... creative, right?) at heart. But sometimes it's just comforting to get away and catch up with great friends. Which leads me to believe....

False.

7 minutes is a dreadfully long time between conversations. If the holes in a conversation are this extensive, you must be in very boring company or have completely nothing in common to discuss.

I challenge you to sit with a friend try to remain silent for 7 minutes... I've tried. Funny, right?

Recently, I made a trip to Philly. It's something I'm fairly notorious for. But instead of making the trip alone, I wrangled up a couple of friends and we made the short excursion together. Philly is only roughly a 2 hour ride away. Alone, this drive could seem like an infinite journey. But in good company, the arrival at the final destination happens in the blink of an eye.

As the driver of the vehicle, I could easily get away with not talking to anyone and claim deep concentration on the roads and the environment. So, I tried to remain silent. But as my nephew would say, "fat chance." One of my buddies initiated a conversation. The other countered with a response. And if you know me well enough, you know that I had to drop my two cents in. The question is... why? Easy. The topic was interesting. I had some knowledge about it. I had an opinion. For no more than a few seconds was there ever a silence... only enough to take a few breaths. This continued for the duration of the road trip. Jokes were told. Memories were recalled. And serious topics were even raised.

Conclusion: It's impossible for the average silence to last 7 minutes between conversations. Where do these statistics come from?!


Anyway... in the true Philadelphia spirit of brotherly love... I leave you with this...

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