Exploring the Pulse of Our Planet
Essay 4 – Digital Empires and the Death of Solitude: Why Silence is Now a Luxury
By Faraz Parvez
Professor Dr. (Retired) Arshad Afzal
Former Faculty Member, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, KSA
(Pseudonym of Professor Dr. Arshad Afzal)
There was a time when solitude was not feared.
It was where prophets received revelation.
Where poets found their rhythm.
Where thinkers discovered the truth.
But today—solitude has become suspicious.
If you sit alone in a café, they ask if you’re waiting for someone.
If you walk alone, you must be lonely.
If you disconnect, people wonder if something is wrong.
In a world where every moment is broadcasted, privacy is rebellion.
📱 We Live in Digital Kingdoms—Ruled by Invisible Kings
Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, X—what began as tools have become empires of attention.
We pay tribute daily: not in gold, but in scrolls, swipes, likes, and clicks.
We don’t post to share.
We post to exist.
And in this empire, there is no sunset—only blue light.
The new insomnia is not caused by coffee, but content.
The new addiction is not heroin, but validation.
🤯 When Everyone is Talking, No One is Listening
The human brain was not designed for infinite tabs.
We used to think deeply. Now we skim.
We used to reflect. Now we react.
We used to pray. Now we post.
We are hyper-connected and deeply disconnected.
A thousand friends online, and still no one to talk to at 2 AM.
A million likes, and still the silence in your soul echoes louder.
🧘 The High Cost of Losing Silence
Noise is not just sound. It’s psychic clutter.
Silence was the soil where identity took root.
Now, it’s a luxury resort we visit once a year—if ever.
Ask yourself:
- When was the last time you sat without touching your phone?
- When did you last hear your own thoughts… and not scroll past them?
Even our solitude is now monetized—with meditation apps, playlists, digital detox retreats.
In an age of oversharing, keeping something just for yourself is sacred.
🕊️ Return to Yourself Before You Are Gone
We are not anti-technology.
But we must be pro-humanity.
Use the tools—don’t be used by them.
Talk—but also listen.
Post—but also pause.
Live—but also reflect.
🌙 Turn off your screen and look at the moon.
🕌 Replace an Instagram scroll with two rakahs of quiet prayer.
📖 Read a page of Quran—not to post it—but to feel it.
✍️ Write something no one will ever read—except you.
📜 A Word from the Author
I’ve taught generations.
I’ve read across cultures.
And I’ve watched as the loudest generation became the loneliest.
This essay is not a lament.
It is a call.
To reclaim stillness.
To rediscover selfhood.
To teach our children that silence is not absence—it is presence of something higher.
Thank you for joining me through this exploration.
In the coming days, new themes will emerge—spiritual, social, poetic, and political.
This series will continue to serve as a mirror, a map, and a musical note in the symphony of our times.
By Faraz Parvez
Professor Dr. (Retired) Arshad Afzal
Former Faculty Member, Umm Al-Qura University, Makkah, KSA
(Pseudonym of Professor Dr. Arshad Afzal)
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