A Law of the Universe

The probability that another person will initiate a conversation is directly proportional to the amount of attention required by an audiobook or some other task, and inversely proportional to the amount of time they have remained silent beforehand.

Throughout the day, there may be countless opportunities for conversation. The other person may ignore you while you work, read, clean, cook, or simply sit in silence. They may even leave the room entirely.

In anticipation of this phenomenon, a person will often wear earbuds without playing anything at all. This serves as a sacrificial decoy in the hope that the universe will trigger the inevitable conversation before the audiobook begins.

More time will pass without conversation, and believing the danger has passed, the listener cautiously presses the play button.

This is the critical mistake.

The instant the narration begins, or within the next thirty seconds, the other person suddenly remembers the one thing they absolutely must tell you right now. The subject is rarely urgent. It may be about a grocery item, something they saw online, or a completely random observation that could have been shared at any other point during the preceding several hours.

The speaker remains blissfully unaware that they have interrupted the audiobook at the precise moment the it had been started. They are unaware of all the preparation it took for the listener to get to this moment. Nor are they aware of the frustration they have caused.

Application of the law may be paused long enough for the listener to forget. Or, it may pause long enough to convince the listener that it is safe to press “Play.”