I don’t suppose there has ever been a noisier culture than the one in which you and I currently find ourselves. There used to be a time that when we were away from home, a ringing phone did not have the capability of interrupting our lives. Today, we and our phones are literally joined at the hip, and they beep incessantly, disturbing our peace and presumptuously interjecting their presence into what would otherwise be silence or uninterrupted face-to-face encounters. We go out for a quiet dinner, and televisions blare from what used to be white space, non-invasive restaurant corners. Music provides constant background noise nearly everywhere we go. Car radios are continually pumping out the sounds of talk shows, audiobooks, and the latest tunes. Social media pages scream news and gossip from the personal lives of those we have never even met, inviting us to click our way down endless rabbit …