Noise has multiplied; critical thought has become inconvenient.

Everyone is speaking but very little thinking is being tolerated. The contemporary public sphere is saturated with opinions, visibility and performance, while remaining increasingly hostile to reflection that disrupts comfort or authority. Speech is abundant where it affirms power, scarce where it interrogates it. In such conditions, listening is no longer a neutral act. It is selective, regulated and deeply political.

We inhabit a society where questioning is systematically constrained. Space is denied not only for dissent but even for reflective thought about what is seen, experienced and regularized. When individuals attempt to articulate their realities or challenge dominant narratives, meaningful dialogue is systematically shut down.

This selective suppression of critical voices is visible across public and private institutions alike. It is not confined to classrooms; it extends to government offices, corporate organizations, private companies, police stations, courts and administrative departments. In these spaces noise, compliance and obedience are consistently rewarded while those who notice societal injustice and ask critical questions face exclusion. In workplaces, promotions may be withheld, salaries reduced or employees transferred to distant posts. In educational settings, dissenting students face lower grades, persistent taunts or exclusion from recognition. In police stations and courtrooms, those who speak out against injustice often find their concerns ignored and become targets. Across society, critical thinkers endure tangible consequences for their integrity and awareness, while performative engagement and conformity are normalized and encouraged.

As a result, many withdraw from public engagement and social spaces, exhausted by constant repetition, superficiality and enforced conformity. Real conversation no longer matters, only appearances, spectacle and the accumulation of status seems to hold value. This withdrawal extends even to family gatherings, where individuals who hold different perspectives often find their voices ignored. In households with multiple siblings, a child whose worldview or approach to life differs often label as “different,” overlooking that their perspective is not inherently problematic but may, in fact, reflect a clearer understanding of social realities. In such environments, individuals attuned to injustice and critical thought are subtly marginalized, while those who prioritize accumulation, status and obedience are rewarded. Recognition, respect and influence are distributed according to conformity rather than insight, leaving reflective voices isolated, fatigued and excluded.

While individuals express themselves through diverse artistic, technical and analytical abilities, the human mind also carries an inherent curiosity to question reality. In our context, this curiosity is constrained by two parallel forces: religious extremism on one hand, and an entrenched social narrowness on the other. Both functions to discourage questioning across all schools of thought, from science and politics to social issues. Viewed historically, this suppression is embedded in the legacy of colonization. Despite formal independence, postcolonial societies continue to operate under imperialist power structures that shape knowledge, authority and discipline. Within conditions of extreme polarization, education systems are structured less to cultivate critical consciousness and more to reproduce compliant workers. The silencing of critical thinking, therefore, is not incidental but historically produced and systematically maintained.

Over time, this environment reshapes how individuals think and speak. Self-censorship becomes habitual, as individuals measure their words against possible consequences, silence turns into a strategy for survival and compliance is misread as intelligence. This internalization is among the most effective forms of control. Yet a significant shift is visible between earlier generations of youth and the present one. Previous generations could be silenced more easily due to their limited numbers and reach. Today’s youth exist in far greater numbers across social, digital and institutional spaces, making total silencing increasingly difficult. Suppression persists, it is no longer stable. Truth, when repeatedly restrained, eventually finds a way to speak – quietly, collectively and unexpectedly.

In an age saturated with noise, the real crisis is not the absence of speech but the erosion of real thought. When questioning is treated as disruption and reflection as defiance, societies learn to speak loudly while thinking quietly. What is lost is not order but consciousness. The question, then, is no longer who speaks, but who is permitted to think and whether real thought can survive where listening has become conditional.

A society that silences its thinkers may remain noisy, but it cannot remain aware.

The writer is an MS Applied Anthropology student at Bahria University, Islamabad, exploring social and cultural issues affecting youth today.