Manners

The loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind. 

– Oliver Goldsmith

Smoke from a food plant that gets into a nearby home is considered by economists to be a negative “externality;” a side effect that affects people that do not enjoy creating or consuming the food. Another example of a negative externality is noise pollution, such as from nearby airports, that has been linked to high blood pressure. 

In psychiatric wards, people talk about needing a break from crowds of people talking loudly waiting for their meds. The noise levels have also been found to cause increased physiological stress and interference with cognitive function. 

And yet, in the opposite situation, putting prisoners in isolation away from human voices may drive them insane. During COVID, the lack of contact, i.e., talking, was shown to be as much of a risk, particularly for seniors, for death from heart disease and stroke as smoking or obesity. 

One of the things I’ve noticed during COVID is that the trails I use for hiking have now become crowded - in fact, there has been a 200 percent increase in the use of hiking trails during the pandemic. That would be fine but, at least for me, hiking works by tuning out noises other than nature. Talking for some hikers seems to be a sort of a catharsis, but I’m forced to drive farther to find more remote trails. 

In another example, after attending the Vincent Van Gogh Immersive Experience, I was sent a short survey asking how it could be improved. During some of the immersive experiences, which I recommend, they were playing soft classical music and displaying amazing art in electronic displays, but people were talking over the music and the narrator. I asked one of the monitors if they could ask people to tone it down and he replied, “No, they are excited and they want to express it.” Personally, I don’t understand why this is different from movie theatres where there is always a specific request not to talk or text so as not to spoil the experience for others. But I also question whether I should have been less sensitive to the noise.

Depending on where we are, researchers have noted that in business settings, men talk more than women. Despite that, there is a widely believed statistic that women talk more in a day, i.e., more words, than men - but that appears to be a myth. Either way, the issue I am addressing is talking loudly, particularly in situations when it may upset others. 

For some externalities, we tax the offending behavior, reassign legal property rights (e.g., assign the right to quiet versus the right to talk); or negotiate between the two parties (offender and offended). I don’t think any of those options are applicable or desirable. 

Instead, how about a return to an old-fashioned concept: manners.

That would involve tolerance on one side and restraint on the other. Perhaps for the offended, being a little more tolerant coupled with the talkers showing a little more restraint will make life a little more enjoyable. This will be particularly true in places like hiking trails, museums, libraries, restaurants and movie theaters. 

Who knows, maybe manners might catch on in all kinds of situations?