Lower the volume, please
Shoppers at this time of year may be excused for occasional episodes of crankiness. It may be due to sensory overload.
Walking down the aisle of a department store can be taxing enough visually, with every display designed to attract our attention, but add to that the Christmas music at nearly blaring volume and the brain has little opportunity to perform its normal functions, like thinking. We end up as quickly as possible exchanging our money for things we and our loved ones don’t need simply to escape the visual and auditory noise.
A visit to the cinema these days is also an assault on all five senses. With just one foot in the door we are enveloped in an odor of hot buttered popcorn, which arouses a taste for absurd quantities of sweet soft drinks. Previews of films are fast-paced flashing light shows that incite migraines, accompanied by sound at such high decibels as to be felt as well as heard. Soundtracks have become louder, too. We recommend those planning to see “Interstellar” consider earplugs.
The films themselves, with all of their visual effects, seem to dull our senses. Some youngsters might even yawn through trailers of “The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies,” with all its monsters, military millions and visions of violence. A few generations ago, the primitive winged monkeys of “The Wizard of Oz” were enough to give kids nightmares for years. Often, the noisy visual effects are nothing but cover for weak and predictable storylines.
Sometimes, we’d like to turn down the volume on life.