Four Seconds: The Silent Treatment As Negotiation

Awkward silences have many uses. It can be used to convey power, to exert influence over the other, and to keep the other person in uncertainty. Silence, according to studies, starts to feel unbearable after four seconds.

Often, life’s cringeworthy moments are unscripted and unpredictable, with the pinch being in the ‘unknowable’ aspects.