The article first appeared in Periphery Drafts #5

I have my HomePod play brown noise while I sleep. I keep my window open, and in my old place, it masked the train sounds across the street. In my new house, it masks the dogs barking next door and people talking early in the morning.

And that’s great—but this has also served as a reminder of how easy it is to get used to the noise. Not just brown noise, but that low-level, constant noise we live with every day. We accept it. Work around it. Eventually, we stop noticing it.

We Make a Choice to Accept Noise

That’s what sparked this topic. Because once something becomes background, it stops feeling temporary—even when it is. Whatever noise we’re enduring won’t last forever.

But while it’s here, it’s on us to decide what we accept as normal—and what we don’t. And to hold on to the people and ideals that matter before they start to feel like background, too.