By Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban
Last week, while scrolling through the news, I stumbled upon three headlines that caught my attention. One read “A recent survey found a quarter of people aged 18 to 34 never answer the phone – respondents say they ignore the ringing, respond via text or search the number online if they don’t recognise it.” A couple of days later, I was struck by a very recent study concluding that “ between 2005 and 2019 an average of 338 fewer words were spoken per day.” I kept scrolling and came across a cultural piece titled “Why Silent Films Still Influence Storytelling in 2026”. The three stories have fired certain areas in my brain and spread activation signals to one another, that trigger the creation of a lexical and conceptual network linking the three stories. Put together, they showcase that the world is witnessing a significant transformation that can usher a new chapter of human history; humans are unstoppably heading towards maximising non-verbal communication. The question resounding in minds now is : is this an evolution or a revolution?
‘Telephobia’
A recent study finds that a quarter of people aged from 18 to 34 never answered the phone; it attributes this to young generations’ ‘telephobia’: a state of anxiety, detachment and fear from direct contact with people, and the likely bad news unexpected calls can bring. Texting and voice noting allow young people to participate in conversations at their own pace, give more thoughtful responses, escape burnout resulting from continuous availability, and maintain peace of mind . Unfortunately, people prefer silence, loneliness and detachment may end up developing “digital dementia”, which refers to the deterioration of short-term memory and other cognitive processes due to the over reliance on (hyper)digital technology. Indeed, a real change happens in our attention span; what we normally used to do with so much attention, patience and perseverance like reading a book or writing an article becomes a very hectic task. Our brains are becoming more addicted to process visually heightened contents, a gift to the right hemisphere of the brain.
Shrinking words or shrinking worlds?
Our daily conversations are shrinking by about 300 words, a recent study finds. The human voice is the most expressive musical instrument we all play; the tone, tempo, rhythm, and pitch create meaning nuances beyond comprehension. Less speech can impede spontaneous dialogues that ignite empathy, caring, and profound human feelings, threaten cultural heritage, and deepen loneliness, today’s ruthless silent killer. Authors point out that further research is needed to answer the following questions: “Were they lost with friends, or family, or with strangers? Were they lost equally for everyone, or just for a select few? What were those conversations about? And, more consequentially, can we quantify the individual and societal costs of lost spoken conversations?”
However, shrinking daily speech does not entail that our verbal abilities are at risk. It is possibly a way to reconstruct a quieter, more nerve-cooling world. History tells us that with every technological leap we readjust and augment our human resources to fit into the new reality. The missing 300 words are made up by more compact and semiotically diverse forms of communication armoured with digital, universal tools like emojis, GIFs and memes. This can save us a lot of digital noise, ease our tremendous mental and cognitive burdens, and crush linguistic barriers in a world bombarding us with hysterically overwhelming contents.
With this insight, it is no surprise that silent cinema makes a strong comeback; silence has become the most sought-after commodity in a noisy, soul-draining world. In fact, we’re becoming more visually literate; we adapt to change. Therefore, losing 300 words a day to visuals indicates a necessity to function in today’s visually-saturated world.
Why silent cinema becomes popular again
Fortunately, silent cinema is making a comeback. The new production bears some resemblance to the silent films produced between 1894 and 1931, but it is designed to fit the 21st century audience and technology. Low-budget films employing DIY techniques have become major hits. “Hundreds of Beavers” (2022), for instance, has achieved global acclaim. Thanks to the innovative cinematography, strangeness, and sense of humor, the film spreads virally and has become a “cult phenomenon”, enjoying a loyal worldwide fanbase, crossing the linguistic and cultural barriers, and stimulating thoughtful reviews. Other movies include: “Robot Dreams” (2023), “All Is Lost” (2013)”, “Days of Gary” (2013), “The Artist” (2011), “Brand Upon the Brain” (2006), and “After the Apocalypse” (2004), all of which mark vibrant cinematographic innovation and experimentation. Certainly, we are living in the Silent era 2.0 the mute mode is much preferred and becomes the default. Sometimes, I watch muted reels and find them very peaceful and convenient. The resurgence of silent cinema is a reflex of visual hegemony. Visual storytelling tools bear most of the narrative weight, without the clutter of words.
Maintaining equilibrium
As in revolutionary technological era, people are poles apart; some of them argue that it is a form of progress and that humans habitually adjust their capabilities to fit in new realities. On the other hand, other people raise red flags, warning against an erosion of human abilities and a further step towards extinction. Humans always navigate a path to survive, thrive and take advantages of technology, while combating its side effects in brilliant ways. I always trust human wisdom and power of resilience to maintain equilibrium. Humans usually integrate new technologies with old ones to achieve ‘digital detoxing’, upgrade old technologies, and help people reclaim their lives before the digital tsunami. To maintain equilibrium, many old things and habits find a way to our lives again, including increasing religiosity among young people, sending handwritten letters and postcards, using landline or dumb phones, celebrating traditional cuisine, organising outdoor communal festivities, rebranding analog photography, among many other things.
Technology has always had an impact on our biology. From the invention of cooking that leads to having more speech sounds and fewer wisdom teeth, to mechanical technologies that spare humans a lot of time and energy, to the digital revolution and the advent of physical, agentive AI that change the course of humanity, force biological adaptations and celebrate regenerative action, human history fluctuates between revolutions and evolutions, Eventually, humanity wins.
Dr Laila Abdel Aal Alghalban
Professor of Linguistics
Faculty of Arts
Kafr el-Sheikh University
Email: [email protected]
