(Post by Karen W.)
The Quiet Zone.
Just saying those three words invokes feelings of serenity and peace for me. I do not live in a Quiet Zone. Sure, there are times when I am silent and not actively engaged in conversation or surrounded by extraneous noise, but that silence is usually tenuous at best and predictably short-lived. The ever-present bright lights of the internet follow me wherever I go. Phones ring, emails and texts chime. My need to stay connected will suddenly assert itself, and I will feel compelled to check my “newsfeed” and all manner of social media lest the world should move on without me. Quieting the mind is not accomplished by simply reducing or even eliminating the noise level around oneself. It requires consciously and deliberately disconnecting from the “noise” of our ultra-connected lives.
Photographer Emile Holba recently explored an area in the United States dubbed “The Quiet Zone.” This location, just outside of Washington D.C., is a vast area (13,000 square miles) of radio silence. Emile chronicled his exploration in a five-part radio broadcast (ironically) on BBC Radio 4 in May of this year. BBC News also posted an article about the story, which is where I came across it, although NPR originally profiled The Quiet Zone back in 2013 as part of their “All Tech Considered” news platform.
The Quiet Zone, established in 1958, is home to the Robert C. Byrd, Green Bank Telescope (GBT). It’s the world’s largest land-based movable object. Although Emile is an excellent photographer, his pictures just don’t convey the magnitude of the structure, which comprises 2.3 acres of ground area and is taller than the Statue of Liberty.
At home in The Quiet Zone, GBT is protected from electrical interference, and interestingly, from the interference of Sugar Grove Station, the National Security Agency’s (NSA) communication site. The radio silence is vital to GBT’s mission of detecting the radio waves emitted milliseconds after the birth of a new universe. As you can imagine, something that sensitive is easily overwhelmed by the noise of our 21st-century lifestyle. The report states that the telescope can detect “the energy given off by a single snowflake hitting the ground.” Wow!
I found the article fascinating for the science itself, but what kept resonating with me was the impact of this “silence” on the community members who live in the zone. They are not the only community in America to live without mobile phones and other wireless devices; for example, the U.S. is home to more than 240,000 Amish, according to a study done in 2012 by Ohio State University researchers. The people living in The Quiet Zone are average Americans. Some live there because they grew up there, some come to the area actually drawn to the technological isolation. The latter – self-proclaimed “electro-sensitive refugees” – make up a small but significant population within the community.
Before you discount their lifestyle as backwards or strange, one clarification: Quiet Zone residents do have access to broadband internet. They are not cut off from the world, they are just not constantly plugged in. As a result, they are able to be truly present in day to day interactions. GBT’s Site Director, Karen O’Neill, comments, “When I watch a soccer game, every parent on that field is watching the kids playing soccer, nobody is looking at their cell phone, no-one is worrying about that.” She goes on to point out that this lack of electronic connectivity results in stronger personal relationships within the community. Conversations aren’t interrupted by phone calls, social media notifications, texts, etc. Not to mention that one of the most exasperating struggles many parents face simply doesn’t exist: the struggle of limiting their kids’ daily dose of screen time.
The fate of the GBT and The Quiet Zone community remains to be seen. Funding poses a major challenge, and should the GBT be decommissioned, life for this community could drastically change. I’ll champion for its continued survival; just knowing that such places exist helps quiet my mind. While I’m not sure that I could live in The Quiet Zone for an extended period, I have the opportunity to enjoy some of its benefits right here at home by unplugging, disconnecting, and really being present in my interactions with others.