Or is that a distinction without a difference?
When you take a road trip with the little wifey, does she ever shut up? At first, all you want to do is concentrate, to escape the traffic congestion, and safely navigate to the open road. But instead of indulging her own intrapersonal communication, she demands interpersonal feedback. She insists on expressing every trivial thought that occupies her mind.
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It’s true: women in their prime talk too darnn much. There is overwhelming anecdotal evidence, but even some feminist-oriented studies show it.
Whenever I see a study that can be interpreted as unfavorable to females (e.g., they use more healthcare resources, they are more feeble, they gossip nonstop, or they take too much time off work even when childless), there is always a caveat to try to explain it away, to try to even the field. It seems they can’t handle the truth. However, there is no denying this study from the University of Arizona that shows that for a large portion of their lives women are loquacious.
Particularly in the all-important age-range of 25 to 64 (overlapping with much of the demographic that advertisers crave), women rarely shut up. Specifically, they average about 3000 more words per day than men in the same age range (per the study cited above). That’s about 30 extra minutes of Barbie-like babble a day. Feigning politeness amid their insufferable, mind-numbing gal-pal chat is worse than being stuck in an elevator or stairwell with some godawful song playing.
Occasionally, men talk more, but it is to exert their dominance and leadership after the team-building pleasantries that women initiate. After the touchy-feely ice-breaking trivialities, it’s time for some meaningful communication imbued with analytical thought and problem-solving. Men talk less, but about more important subjects, including how to engineer, build, and fix stuff. Heaven forbid the garrulous gynocracy takes over by sheer virtue of their weight.
There may be hope for the strong, silent type. Per research published in Perspectives on Psychological Science, the estimated number of words people speak each day fell by roughly 28% between 2005 and 2019.
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Much of that period overlaps with Gen Z, who portend an idiocracy. They are known for their eponymous stare. Lets not sugar-coat it like the mollycoddling shrink-wannabees: the Gen Z stare is a blank expression reflecting a tabula rasa brain.
I appreciate their reticence; after all, they are the first generation to actually be dumber than the preceding generation. Other than banalities and their own selfish interests, what do they have to communicate that’s worthwhile?
Who wants to hear from them, anyway? Their ignorance makes them prone to socialist catchphrases. Unless they are particularly precocious, it’s preferable that they just shut up until they’ve endured enough of life’s vicissitudes to be worth sharing.
Overall, Gen Z may be dumber than their progenitors, but at least they don’t talk too much. Now if only they wouldn’t vote so much. A garrulous gynocracy is offensive to one’s senses, but a socialist idiocracy may be intolerable.
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Image: Eugen von Blaas