Silence: is it good or bad? | A Neutral Approach

There are times where you are going to meet someone who is really quiet. There are also times where you will be the quiet one instead. I for myself am a quiet person. I personally prefer peace and want my surroundings to be silent. In fact, I am listening to a white noise app while typing this to remove any background noise or sound. A question people like me often ask is if silence is good or bad. We are going to find that our together in this article.

Silence is neither good nor bad. Whether silence would be good or bad depends on the personality of an individual. It can be good in the sense that you value your words so you don’t speak often. For others, it can be that they are really shy and thus, miss a lot of life opportunities.

In this article, we are going to discuss this concept in greater detail. We would see both sides of the coin whether silence is good or bad for us. We would see when it can be considered as good, or it would be considered as bad. As an introvert, you will find my personal take into the matter.

Is silence good or bad?

Silence can either be good or bad. There are some people who prefer being silent because they know that silence is powerful and shows dominance. For some, silence can be a sign that a person is extremely shy. Others just enjoy being silent because they prefer quiet environments.

If we are going to find out if silence is good or bad, we first have to check both sides.

As we can see, there is a concept that silence is actually power. I learned this from the book the 48 laws of power by Robert Greene.

In his book, he talked about why being silent would bring you the upper hand in the conversation. This is because people are just uncomfortable with silence.

That’s the reason why you will hear people talk a lot to fill the conversation. Most just see silence as something uncomfortable.

That’s where silence gets in place.

When we are silent, we actually show power in front of a person and it is actually one of the reasons why some successful people are quiet in nature.

Not all, but some.

I actually explained multiple reasons why people are silent in another article. I suggest you also read the article since I know it would be nice for you to know the various reasons why people get silent. Both good and bad. Here is the link: Why some people are quiet all the time?

There is a simple rule in life that states “The rarer the item is, the more valuable it gets.”

This is also especially true for silence. If you think about it, if you have friends who talk a little, you will often listen the moment they talk.

That is because unconsciously, you know that what they will say is important and valuable. That’s a power and a reason why silence can be a good thing.

However, not everything is good.

There are also moments where a person that is silent is caused by other things such as trauma and just being shy.

We are going to talk about that in the next sections.

Is it good to remain silent?

It is good to remain silent because it is a sign of power and valuing the words coming out of your mouth. There are also times where remaining silent can be good so it is easier to listen and get to the flow of the conversation. However, there will still be times where a person needs to talk and not remain silent.

We have already talked about the numerous benefits you can get from remaining silent.

As you already know, many powerful people only talk when necessary. Making their words rare makes them valuable.

People would listen more to a person talking less.

In fact, some people I personally look up to are quiet by nature.

Another reason why being quiet is good is because it helps you become a better communicator.

When we are silent, we can get into the flow of the conversation quickly. The simple reason is that we are listening more into the conversation.

The more you listen to the conversation, the easier you will get in the flow of your talk.

What I find most introverts like me make when learning to communicate with extroverts is that they are always thinking of what to answer.

Instead, it is actually better to use the power of introverts which is to just listen. This would make you understand the topic better and your response would come very easily.

I actually talked about this in greater detail in another article. I think it is a good article to read especially if you really want to start talking. I find the article especially helpful for introverts like me who want to learn how to communicate properly. Here is the link: How to stop being so quiet

However, when it is time to talk, make sure to talk.

I will discuss in the next section why talking is also essential and why it can be a bad thing if we start to be so quiet that we don’t say what we want to people

Is it a bad thing to be quiet?

It is not a bad thing to be quiet. In fact, it can be very beneficial because good listeners are usually quiet. This makes it easier to get into the flow of a discussion. However, there are times where we need to speak for ourselves because everything that is too much is bad. That includes being quiet.

You might now start to wonder. I am an introvert but telling you that being too quiet can actually be bad.

Well, I said, I want to give you the whole picture here.

One thing you need to know is that you can’t make the people around you guess. Make sure to tell them what you really want.

Sometimes, a person would ask you why you remain silent simply because they want to know how you feel. In fact, the person might actually be genuinely concerned.

As you can see, it is important to check on the situation. Maybe the person just wants to know more about you or they really don’t want to guess.

Another bad thing being quiet can do is that it might come from being shy.

While it is alright to be shy, there are still times where we need to speak for ourselves. If we can’t let other people know what we want, we can’t expect them to understand us.

Furthermore, the harder thing here is that a person being silent might be from trauma.

An example of this is when an active student always answers their teacher but one day, he or she got scolded.

After that, the child won’t respond to recitations in classes anymore.

It can be that they made serious mistakes in the past because of talking too much, they decided not to talk anymore.

I’ve made an article discussing this topic in greater detail. I think if you want to learn more, feel free to check this article out: It is bad being too quiet?

As you can see, there are also negatives when it comes to being quiet. So it actually depends on the person.

So what I want to say is this.

Being quiet can be good or bad. The way it can be good or bad will depend on how we actually use it. If we use being quiet as a form of being a good listener or to show respect, then it can be a good thing. However, if we use it to miss life opportunities, then it can be bad.