Showerthought: Virtual meeting silences evoke the Mary Celeste enigma for me

In my view, the sudden silences in remote team chats mirror the Mary Celeste's mysterious vacancy.

2 comments

2 Comments

Yeah, referencing the "Mary Celeste's mysterious vacancy" really hits home. I heard a podcast describe those dead silences as everyone collectively holding their breath, lol. It's oddly haunting for something so mundane.

dylan_smith369h ago

Doubt the comparison holds up under scrutiny. The Mary Celeste was a genuine unsolved mystery, but a dead silence in conversation is usually just boredom or a lack of things to say. Calling that haunting feels like stretching for meaning where there is none. Most awkward pauses are instantly forgotten, not etched into memory like some ghost ship saga. If everyone is collectively holding their breath, it's more likely someone said something weird and we're all waiting for the tension to pass. It's just social friction, not a profound existential moment.