The Quiet Place Project

The quiet place is a project of only one man who wants to change the world.

Meet The Maker Of 'The Quiet Place,' An Internet Escape, On The Internet.

A few weeks ago, while browsing the Google Chrome App Store, I came across “The Quiet Place,” and its simple hook, “have you ever noticed how many things require your attention?” 

Suddenly that question required my attention. So I browsed to the website and found an interactive minimalistic essay about the effects of Social Media. It was thoughtful, if somewhat ironic, and surprisingly relaxing. It had humor: “you’re probably thinking about all the great notifications you are missing right now/ try to be patient / just for a couple of minutes.” And sincerity: “the truth is that with all these (so called) great social services, we forgot something along the way/ we forgot to take a break from time to time/ a real break.” The fact you are escaping the Internet on the Internet, makes it both counterintuitive and effective. So maybe it’s not a surprise that someone deeply invested, professionally, in technology was the lone creative force behind the site. 

“The Quiet Place” was created in the summer of 2011 by Amitay Tweeto, a 28-year-old User Interface designer from Tel Aviv, Israel. Since its launch, the place has had more than 5 million visitors, 217 thousand likes on Facebook and has been translated into 30 different languages by volunteers. 

Tweeto defines himself as an autodidact who has “always tried to find new ways to create new products that will make a difference in other people lives.” In this interview, we discuss how “The Quiet Place” has made that kind of difference, the ironic nature of the project and how Social Media is affecting the human experience. 

There is a very strong point of view in “The Quiet Place,” and I wonder what made you want to create this? 

I’m a big fan of the “words before code” concept. It means that before I even try to develop a new idea, I have to know that there are people who can relate to it. When I created the quiet place project, I had a sense that we’re in an era that changes everything, and fast. With the new social media that Facebook gave us, I learned that there is a side-effect that no one really bothers to check. The social noise that we take for granted is affecting so many young folks that don’t even know that there is other way to live a life. 

What are your thoughts about the counter-intuitive nature of this site: a place generally found through social media that is meant to get us away from it. 

It’s ironic, I know. And I get a lot of, “So why do you have a Facebook page?” complaints. But the idea is not to stop Facebook, I’m not against it at all, it’s a great tool for spreading your word and to reach many people in a short period of time. But I am against the idea that the younger generation don’t even see it as a tool, but as a way of life. I was shocked at first to learn that people actually needed the quiet place. 

You sent out the site to 400 friends at first. When did you get a sense this was going to grow well beyond that? 

It took about two weeks until the url landed on StumbleUpon and exploded to the rest of the web. It took me about 2 months to digest the fact that it’s not just viral, but a true need. People keep on sending me messages about the fact that the project changed their life. At this point I knew this must go on, so I created the thoughts room, which enables people to spill their emotions without being afraid anyone will judge them about it. They can see the thoughts falling down and turning into stars. It was as successful as the original quiet room and people are telling me that the quiet place is the first thing they do before they start their day and the thoughts room is the last thing they do just before they go to sleep. 

Has this site changed your own life in any ways? 

You can sure say that. As much as I wanted to think about it as a personal project, it’s not like that anymore. There are hundreds of thousands of returning visitors every month and many of them keep on asking me about new rooms they want to have. It’s everywhere and many people are depending on the fact that the site will help them with their life, I can’t just let it go and move on to something else. I don’t want to either. It’s a great responsibility.

So you do plan to develop the site more — add more rooms for those repeat visitor? 

For now, I divide this project into 3 parts. The first one was the quiet room, it made me understand a great need. The second was the thoughts room, it made me verify this need and the way to answer it. The third one is in the works and is called “the dreams room”. It will be a full functioning system that is designed to help people stay focused and achieve their dreams in the same technique I used before. I think that over time, people will learn a lot about themselves with this room, it’s going to be amazing. 

One of the appealing elements, I think, is the lack of clutter on the site. Is the clutter of social media sites part of the problem? 

Clutter is indeed part of the problem. But it’s not just about the visual clutter. It seems like we always need to do something else instead of the important stuff in our life. We are using technology in a twisted way that drives us to constantly checking if we have new updates from our friends. I like 9gag and I really like getting silly updates from my friends, but on a global scale, it looks like the balance between spending our time with these nonsensical items and actually doing something important with our life is somehow corrupt. Just a couple of months ago I was contacted by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang from Stanford University and he was telling me about his “Contemplative Computing” research that shows how we can use today’s technology to be more focused and creative. It’s a new and growing category and the quiet place project is all about that. 

I sometimes worry that we are losing something human in all of these connections. Tell me about your notions for how to make the Internet and Social Media a little more human in itself. 

We are always talking about social media. And although there are many persons in this term, there is nothing personal about it. It relates to people as a group instead of an individual. With the quiet place project, I want to create a “Personal Networking” system. A way for people to connect with themselves. It’s not easy as it sounds because it’s a slippery road to be sucked into the whole spiritual/religious methods, and I don’t want to go that way. I hope to build a place that people can use to learn more about themselves, and use this information to be better people and live happier lives.

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