#day10 lockdown southafrica communication

[elrine]

Will communication change after the lockdown?

This is quite an interesting thought. We not only communicate verbally but also non-verbally when we can see each other. I’ve noticed this last week, how the technology to manage face-to-face video calls and meetings had to rapidly increase and adjust. We now not only call for working purposes but also everything else too. I suspect that the people who were very social before the lockdown, might now be just as social- just on the internet and those who were not that social, might still not be that social. In the words of my one sister “Lockdown will amplify people’s communication tendencies.” Lunette Opperman However, my theory is that people are checking in more on each other and that video calling will become a normal everyday life concept (if it was not before). Our communication will be more “care focussed”. Those questions “how are you?” “How are you feeling” are more genuine now. So even if we are not communication more, we might be communicating more honestly, more deeply, more sincerely. I do wonder though, how will our non-verbal ques be picked up through the internet? How does it translate through only seeing somebody’s face? Is that sufficient? Will we learn to adjust our communication styles to accommodate the internet's restrictions? Will our words start to become more effective and truthful? Will body language become less important? Will technology adjust to accommodate both verbal and non-verbal? Do we communicate more with people far away? Or our friends “close by”?

I would love to see the studies and statistics on our communication during the lockdown and the effects of it after. I would love to hear your opinion on this one. Do you think communication will change after the lockdown?