Easing Gently Into a Noisy New Year Congratulations to Pico Iyer for the solid reasoning behind his Jan. 1 Sunday Review article, "The Joy of Quiet." His emphasis on the importance of slowing down to see more feelingly and to think more carefully than the Internet age seems to allow is necessary to our individual and collective well-being. Pico Iyer sees the world whole from a distance beyond the dissonance. As he suggests, the balance of our natures is dangerously out of kilter as technology takes over our lives instead of being a tool to be used with restraint. In this plugged-in environment of incessant sound and distraction - known to undermine empathy and other mental processes - it is not surprising that our greater society is also dangerously out of kilter with ever-widening income disparities fostering the degradation of our democratic institutions (through the political leverage of moneyed interests) and compounded by the woeful lack of thoughtful, emboldened leadership. Forging a balanced and equitable society based on a strong moral foundation - a good society that checks a turbo-charged capitalism that pays no heed to human and environmental costs - is a challenge that looms large in 2012 and beyond. Let us resolve to think more and transmit less in the new year. What can save a working person's day is a 15-minute walk at lunchtime each day to observe a tree, a bird, a flower, a cloud. Nature is essential. Amazing that when the world turns, it does so without the sound of a motor, gears or anything noisy. When we moved from being an outdoor society to an indoor society, we lost a great deal. Now we should be smart enough to regain what we lost. As someone once said, "Happy is the man who can make the day his own." ELINOR HITE Carrollton, Tex., Jan. 2, 2012 Pico Iyer's article is aptly timed and aptly titled. As it suggests, escape from our technologically enhanced high-speed lives may be essential not only to happiness but also to a deeper joy that comes from quiet. The multiple distractions of our overstimulated society foster a populace no more inclined to contemplation or serious thought than first graders at a birthday party. To quote the Talmud, "Wisdom begins in silence." Could my final day of 2011 be a harbinger for a joyfully quiet 2012 with the next generation? My texting, Facebook-bound, Mac-proficient teenager asked to join me at a local cafe to read. As she determinedly plodded through "A Tale of Two Cities," and I wondrously galloped through the denouement of "Wuthering Heights" (real books with pages!), I noticed that nothing rang or buzzed, and our texting-gloved fingers touched nothing but our hot chocolate and coffee. A toast to the joy of her size 5 feet on my lap as we disappeared into two hours of blissful solitude ... together.