Solitary Confinement

This suppose to be the worst form of punishment other than torture. Deprive a person from any interaction but them self.

Alone in a single room with only your thoughts to entertain you.

So is the culture of today's society in need of complete stimulation? Television, internet, phone, texting and conversation are all part of the nature of noise surrounding us every day, but we have created them all.

Television with it's high definition flat screens presenting hundreds of channels with very little of interest to spend time watching, the massive internet with fact and fiction mixed in with pure trash and a waste of time looking for something important, the phone which has become smart enough to bypass talking to another human by typing in text to a tiny screen for immediate response, and finally one-to-one conversation fill our waking hours.

Now the television with all of it's action and sound and fancy colors can be turned off, the internet like a giant library can be shut down, the phone with all it's connections can be ignored, but human conversation is different.

A person talking to another person face-to-face can view expressions and reactions from statements or questions. Inflections in the voice can relay messages the words don't clearly express. A facial gesture or a smile or frown or a pause in the conversation can speak volumes of silence.

So take away all of these outside interference to the mind and what do you have?

Solitary confinement.

Alone with your own thoughts. The mind free of outside interference. Only the individual ideas are forefront to be truly thought through and contemplated.

Now, whatever conclusion these thoughts bring to the self, there is no method to share with another.

As with a conversation, when an question is asked and instead of the immediate reply, there is a pause to contemplate the answer, such is solitary confinement.

Time to think and ponder the thoughts.

Is this what punishment is?

Or is this a gift we don't realize until it is too late?