Sonos Wants to Know: Do You Suffer from Silent Home Syndrome?

Last Sunday during the Grammys, Sonos launched a marketing campaign aimed at putting an end to an epidemic the company has dubbed “The Silent Home.” In case you missed it, we’ve included the commercial. Click on it to hear (or not hear) what they mean by The Silent Home.

 

Basically, a Silent Home happens when families choose to not listen to music together, and through quantitative research and expert testimony by Sonos, it is said to affect 68 percent of Americans.

So why should you care? According to neuroscientist Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D., music is an important facet to our well-being and the health of our families. Here’s what you should know about The Silent Home, how it affects you, and what you can do to address it.

Causes of The Silent Home: 

The rise of The Silent Home has been a result of three different factors: changing expectations for privacy and autonomy within a family as a result of industrialization and education; the ease of “tuning out” with personal digital and mobile devices; and the highly addictive nature of social media and Internet browsing. SOURCE: Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D., author of This Is Your Brain on Music

The Adult Fade:

• When we’re young, music defines us. It literally makes meaning out of the chaos of life. It shapes who we hang out with, how we dress, it becomes part of who we are. Because it’s everything, we listen to it nonstop— anywhere, any way, on any device— no matter how crappy. Of course, we continue to love music as adults. But somewhere around the time we get our first job with health insurance, our first place to live, a partner to whose social calendar we must adapt; music starts getting squeezed to the margins. We hit the adult fade. SOURCE: Joy Howard, Sonos

o   60% of music lovers surveyed across nine countries conceded that they listen to less music now than when they were younger.

SOURCE: The Silent Home Assessment, Sonos, 2017.

Acute Hyper-Scheduling and The 24/7 Work Week:

Busyness has become a status symbol – an extraordinary departure from most of history, when not being busy was a demonstration of high status, and busyness was an indication either of low status or of deeply confused priorities. SOURCE: Oliver Burkeman, Author and Journalist

• 58% of all Silent Home Assessment respondents acknowledged the desire for a better work/life balance.

SOURCE: The Silent Home Assessment, Sonos, 2017.

Anti-Social Listening:

The open floor plan allows for much greater sound transmission through the home, which can encourage interaction and engagement or can further reinforce family members’ search for a private space to get away from the overstimulation they’re experiencing both within and outside the home. SOURCE: Sonos

• 44% observed that a lot of their at-home listening takes place either alone or via headphones.

SOURCE: The Silent Home Assessment, Sonos, 2017.

Screen-Induced Isolation:

Technology is primarily used in solitary pursuits. And when it is used with others in connecting through gaming or online communication, it still takes the person away from opportunities to engage in home activities that include others. SOURCE: Larry D. Rosen, Ph.D., author of The Distracted Mind

• 62% of respondents noted that increasingly more of their social interactions take place in the digital world, while 46% acknowledged that their family members spend more time interacting with technology than directly with each other.

SOURCE: The Silent Home Assessment, Sonos, 2017.

 Conditions of The Silent Home: 

• 71% of Americans report a shortage of meaningful conversations at home.
• Over half (54%) note their households spend more time interacting with technology than each other.
• 79% admit to having a silent home – not playing a single song –  when hosting guests or entertaining.
• 86% of Americans shared that they’d like to spend more time doing activities in-person with family and friends.

Remedies for Breaking the Silence:

Make Social Spaces Social 

• Home sound systems can deliver everything from mood-enhancing soundscapes to engaging political content to intellectually-simulating lectures. They can be the instrument of change. SOURCE: Levitin
• Reducing the isolation caused by immersive technologies can lead to more life satisfaction and better mental and physical health. SOURCE: Rosen

 Take Screen Breaks

• Set aside designated times that are “internet free.” Start with “no device” family mealtimes. Employers can encourage employees to take “productivity hours” in which they turn off their email and even phones. SOURCE: Levitin
• Take short breaks every 90 minutes to reduce the over-activity that comes from using technology. SOURCE: Rosen

Give Time Away 

• An important line of recent research offers a counterintuitive assessment of the time scarcity problem: a reliable way to achieve feelings of time affluence – that is, not being overbusy – is to give time away, to ‘spend’ it on others, rather than hoarding it. SOURCE: Burkeman
• Family systems theory research has indicated that families who enjoy 4 – 5 family meals each week show stronger family cohesion and a more homeostatic family system. And households that listen to music out loud share more meals together.

o   According to the Sonos Music Makes it Home study, the households that listen to music out loud the most eat on average meals on 5.6 days per week, while households that listen to music out loud the least eat on average meals on 4.8 days a week. SOURCES: Rosen, Sonos

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