Question

Why is face to face communication is important rather than communicating through social sites, text messages, and emails.

Answer 1

Proper face-to-face communication is an important part of our social skills. Clear and precise communication is necessary for success in many human endeavors.

In today's society, face-to-face conversations has become less frequent due to technology such as email, texting and cell phones.

Avoiding direct contact is a detriment to successful communication. Failure to miss things such as the sense of approval from facial expressions can result in missed opportunities.

A face-to-face conversation is an absolute requirement for collaborating on a business venture or for asking one's boss for a raise. You wouldn't even consider asking for a job promotion without doing it face-to-face, would you?

A face-to-face conversation is also useful for having insightful discussions of mutual interest. Before the telephone was invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, people had no choice but to get together when they wanted to have a conversation. Social skills were enhanced since people were accustomed to the art of conversation.

Today people are losing their social skills because of the ease of quick correspondence by telephone, smartphone, email, instant messaging, and texting.

People call one another when they need a quick answer to a question, or to schedule or confirm an appointment. People rarely call one another to have a meaningful conversation. They call to chat, but nothing that's really serious.

Let's look at the benefits and the techniques of face-to-face communication. I'll describe methods of having a meaningful conversation.

The Benefits of a Face-To-Face Conversation

Face-to-face conversations provide the ability to get to know one another in a way that cannot be achieved remotely.

Visual Feedback:

Body language adds to the verbal communication when having a face-to-face conversation. There are many clues to how one feels about the discussion.

Sometimes one can even tell if the other person is not truthful by the way they handle eye contact. If eye contact is avoided, this may indicate that they are hiding something or that they are not being truthful.

However, cultural differences need to be taken into consideration too. In some cultures it is considered a sign of disrespect for a young person to make eye contact with an elder.

Nonverbal Communication:

Nonverbal communication is only possible in face-to-face conversations, such as body language and eye contact. This is especially helpful for understanding one another in a relationship.

Hand gestures are very common additional aspect to verbal communication when in the same room, face-to-face. But this may be a detriment to the communication if having a conversation with someone of a different culture.

For example, pointing at something with one finger is considered rude among Asians. It is similar to our middle finger salute. Asians usually point using their entire hand.

How Technology Affects Social Interaction

Before computers were used for communication, people used to get together at community gatherings to discuss public affairs and to make plans for social activities.

Today, with email, instant messaging, texting, and other methods of group communication that computer technology provides, people don’t need to leave the house or office any longer for community or company meetings.

The technology makes it so easy to communicate that people use it to share messages on social media sites and to send info via global mailing lists instead of getting together in real life.

This is part of the new culture we have and it causes people to lose the ability to function in a face-to-face environment.

Awkward Silence During Lull in the Conversation

Have you ever experienced those awkward moments when there is a lull in the conversation? When all of a sudden nobody seems to have anything further to say?

I find it can happen even when the conversation was flowing so well. But then suddenly nothing new is added and everyone just seems to go into a trance.

I usually am the one to break the silence when a lull in the conversation happens. I bring up anything new to talk about that comes to my mind just to keep the conversation going. The trick is not to think too much about it. Otherwise a longer period of silence occurs.