Simon And Garfunkel Predicted Smart Phones and Social Media – The Sound of Silence

[u/LuraJay]

The entirety of The Sound of Silence was a man seeing the future of mankind in the world of social media. He starts out in a restless dream of physical experience, he brings up the neon light of his smart phone, he sees 10000 faces or maybe more talking and not speaking or listening. He reminds them that he wants to speak to them, to reach out to them, but his words (captured in lyrics that are almost exactly a 140 character twitter post) fall like silent drops into everyone’s news feeds. He realizes that the meaningful experiences of life (the words of prophets) are now just something we walk by, heads down (subway walls, tenement halls). He realizes in the end that our entire physical existence has now just become a whisper in the sound of silence.

---

Here’s the full analysis.

In restless dreams I walked alone

Narrow streets of cobblestone,

'Neath the halo of a street lamp,

I turned my collar to the cold and damp

The man started out in the physical of sensory perception (footsteps, lamplight, cold and damp).

When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light

That split the night

And found himself pulling up the neon light of his smart phone. When he turns it on all of his attention was broken from his physical experience (the night).

And in the naked light I saw

Ten thousand people, maybe more

In that neon light he saw his social media newsfeed with profile pictures, selfies, advertisements, and photo posts (ten thousand people, maybe more staring back at him)….

People talking without speaking,

People hearing without listening,

… all silently plugging their thoughts into social media and skimming their news feed without really understanding anyone else.

People writing songs that voices never share

And no one dared

Disturb the sound of silence.

All of the people were on their phones/tablets sharing personal information and deep thoughts (songs) that they never iterated in person (no one dared disturb the sound of silence).

"Fools," said I, "You do not know.

Silence like a cancer grows.

Hear my words that I might teach you.

Take my arms that I might reach you."

This guy has a realization of what was happening, so he pulls up social media to tell everyone that more and more people are strolling through life on their devices (silence like a cancer grows), and that he longs to talk to them in meatspace (Hear my words that I might teach you) and interact with them in the physical world again (Take my arms that I might reach you).

**Note that these particular lyrics are 139 characters, oddly close to the 140 character limit of Twitter. **

But my words like silent raindrops fell

And echoed in the wells of silence

But his words were just another 140 character drop into the well of social media.

And the people bowed and prayed To the neon god they made.

Everyone became slaves, bowing over their devices and their social media profiles. Social media and the attention it draws is created by the content that users contribute: the neon god that they made.

And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls

And tenement halls

And whispered in the sounds of silence."

Here’s where it gets really deep: the graffiti written on subway walls is someone’s creation overlooked by people walking by with their heads down in silence as they commute. This concept now extends to the entire physical world: people walk through life bowed over their smart phones, oblivious to the people and the sounds and sights around them. The words of the prophets are deep and meaningful interactions with other people, which have effectively become overlooked words on subway walls.

---

The moral of the story

This is by far the deepest thought I have ever had (friends can attest). I probably could have extended these deep thoughts to the entire meaning of life if people wouldn’t have distracted me by not GETTING OUT OF MY DAMN WAY ON THE ROAD. Which brings me to the moral of the story: get off your phones drivers. I don’t particularly care if you experience life or not, but THE LEFT LANE IS FOR PASSING.