In it, the author explains why she and her husband decided to get rid of their radio after living for a long time with a tv. She felt the noises, opinions, and just the sound of the voices coming through the airwaves were invasive and often went against the goals for their family. This book was compiled in 1998, so cell phone use and the internet wasn’t necessarily assumed or even mentioned. (How much more ubiquitous are those influences these days?) In the essay, she talks about the effects of a radio-free life and her family’s renewed interest in singing for their own enjoyment.

"Human voice fills our house and is richer than any electronically generated sound can be….For over a year now we’ve lived without voices in our home save those of the real, live people who live here or those of visiting friends."

That idea is startling to me. Can you imagine that? A present person attached to every single voice in your home? I can’t. (Does the author never talk on the phone, either?) But it’s only been in this last sliver of history that we’ve been able to listen to voices of people we’ll never meet or maybe would have never intentionally invited into our homes to influence us.

http://ahousewifewrites.com/2022/10/12/the-beautiful-benefits-of-silence-in-the-home/