DAVAO CITY — Is it just me, or is the volume control on teenagers broken nowadays? Is it a recent development, or has it always been so?
I don’t remember ever being so loud, but then again, I’m old, and memory has a way of playing tricks. I only have the Now for reference.
Over the years, I’ve become quite an expert in teenage volume. Working in a school exposes me to a higher quotient of teenagers than most other people.
The loudness usually happens in the hallways, between peers standing right next to each other, but conducting their conversation as a shouting match. ‘KALISOD SA EXAM NI SIR, OY!’ ‘BITAW! HAGBONG NA POD KO!’
I’m not the only one to make the observation. Friends and co-teachers swear by it, too. But then again, all of us are old fogeys. Perhaps our ears have become a little sensitive.
I do wonder about the roots of all this conversational shouting. Is it culturally determined? Exchanges of this sort are always in the vernacular, in our case, Bisaya, or Davao-Bisaya, or conyo Bisaya. Is it a function of gender? Girls seem to shout more than boys.
Perhaps this needs a more scientific approach. Maybe I’ll park myself in a high traffic one afternoon with a notepad, taking down notes of what people are saying, and who’s saying it.
Or maybe it really is just a function of age. My colleague Fr. Denny demonstrated a sound clip to me one time. “This is a sound that only teenagers can hear,” he said. He played it. “Do you hear it?”
“Uh, no…”
“Hey, V–,” he called out to the office’s working student, “do you hear anything?”
“Yes. I hear a clicking sound.”
I’ve made a game out of this propensity for loudness among the younger set. I call it “Shhh!”
This is how I play it: whenever I chance upon an overly-loud student, I sidle up beside them, purse my lips, put a finger up, and let out a very audible “Shhhh!” That elicits an embarrassed look. A sudden quiet descends all around, and only nervous giggles can be heard. Then I lower my eyes and affect a zen-like stance, as if meditating.
It’s one of the pleasures of being old, and in authority. He he he.
______________________________________________
Author’s email: [email protected]
