“Dead air” is an unintended period of silence that interrupts a broadcast during which no audio program material is transmitted. To a program director or radio station manager, dead air is anathema, and something to be avoided at all costs.

While dead air is something that is undesirable for a radio station, I think it is something we should pursue in several areas of our lives. We live in an increasingly noisy world. Not only the decibel level, but the sheer amount of sound and static that comes into our lives via our ears and eyes can be overwhelming.

The information age and search engines has resulted in immediate access to almost anything you want to know about. Often the information is unfiltered and erroneous. We’ve all heard about and encountered “fake news”. If you look around, it appears that almost everyone has some type of device hanging from their ears. Between the earbuds and the cell phones in our hands they have seemingly become permanent appendages.

We seem to scarcely have a waking moment in our day for “dead air” We are constantly connected.  The truth is as human beings we are not designed or wired to be continually wired. We spend hours a day sending and receiving emails or texts, scrolling through social media and news feeds, and for what? FOMO – Fear of missing out? We fill our schedules with meeting after meeting and constant activity, with little to no “white space” on our calendars.

One area where dead air is needed, is in our relationships, especially when having conversations. I’m aware of it, I know it’s not a good habit, its disrespectful, rude, and yet I still do it. For much of my life I have, and still struggle with interrupting people when they are talking, not allowing them to finish their thoughts.

I can’t count the number of times I’ve barged in and interrupted someone in mid-sentence, and they respond, “Would you please let me finish! Not something at all that I’m proud of.  I’ve made progress, but not enough, and I continue to personally work on this area of my life.

Here are a few thoughts and recommendations:

Truly listening, is one of the best gifts we can give to one another.

Exercise a filter, not everything that pops up in your head has to come out of your mouth.

Intentionally stay quiet. Build dead air into your day. See how long you can go without talking.

Fewer words are better, choose to talk less and listen more.

Learn and practice active and responsive listening. Being a good listener is a wonderful skill and trait to cultivate.

Try this one, when engaged in a conversation, build in at least 3 seconds of dead air between the time of the other person’s last spoken word, and when you speak.

I think there is a reason God created us with two receivers (ears) and one transmitter (our mouth), to remind us we should listen twice as much as we talk. Are you always transmitting with no times of dead air. We need to find balance in this area, the sweet spot of speaking when needed or appropriate, and listening the rest of the time. I encourage you to embrace and delight in dead air.

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