Silence is a shit test

A pause is often a probe: do you panic-fill?

Silence is a shit test

Eye contact (Commons). Don't panic-fill the pause.
Field	Pickup
Also known as	silence test
Origin	Iceberg / shit test
Related	Shit test; The pause; Congruence; Tryhard

Silence is a shit test is iceberg jargon: a pause to see if you panic-fill. Sometimes it is just a pause. In practice: hold the pause. If you dump a résumé into quiet, you failed a test you gave yourself.

Method

1. Quiet after a tease: wait.
2. Quiet after a no: leave.
3. Don't turn every silence into a trial. Calibration.

Failure mode

Staring. Or talking over every gap.

See also

• Shit test
• The pause
• Congruence
• Tryhard