How Non-Verbal Communication Makes a Difference

 Communication is such a complex topic. Anything can be used to communicate to one another. Communication has evolved and it certainly has become part of our daily life and is something that we need in order to survive. Communication keeps us connected to others and allows us to develop relationships with others. In class we learned that communication is unavoidable and it is multi-channeled. We can send multiple messages at the same time using body language, gestures, tone of voice, and facial expressions. The process of communication requires a sender, a receiver, a message, and a medium. The medium does not always have to be words.

Non-verbal Communication is a way or medium in which we can send messages to one another. Physical appearance which can be how a person is dressed, body type, ethnicity, gender, and is usually the first thing we notice. Proxemics include space and territory which is similar to haptics which are the ways in which we communicate with touch. Kinesics involve movement and describes how we communicate with posture and facial expression i.e. feelings, mood, emotion, and eye contact. Paralanguage is everything in the vocal channel except the actual words; tone of voice, pitch, and accent. I found a video that I enjoy watching often because it is full of excitement and nonverbal behaviors there are some words in the video but the non-verbal behavior that the one of the little girls show hits every category of nonverbal communication that we discussed in class. This is a link to a video of Sophia Grace and Rosie on the Ellen Show and it shows Sophia Grace freaking out when meeting Nicki Minaj. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9573kGBtuE. The first thing that one would notice before starting the video would be the way the two little girls are dressed. Physical appearance is shown through their apparel. They have on very cute, pink, and fluffy tutus. This communicates to us that they are young and innocent little girls. Also the clothes that they wore gives us insight into their personality. Para-language is shown throughout the whole video clip. Sophia shouts and screams in a high pitched voice. She jumps in excitement whenever Ellen gave her a complement at the very beginning. Also her emotion and mood tells us that she is really ecstatic. She has so much energy and it’s hard for her to contain it. We can talk about proxemics and haptics when Nicki Minaj comes out. As soon as Ms. Minaj comes out Sophia runs to her screaming and gives her a big hug but she is not invading her space because Minaj does not mind. Even after she stops hugging her she continues to scream because she is so happy that she got to meet her, Even the audience is contributing nonverbal communication by screaming, clapping, laughing, and crying. They are showing that they are happy that Minaj is there and that they enjoyed being able to share this experience with the two little girls.

Nonverbal communication is just as important as the words themselves. Nonverbal communication allows us to send and receive messages to and from others conveying what we are thinking or feeling without words. I could not imagine having a conversation in person without using gestures or facial expressions because it makes a difference. It would be hard to get my point across and the conversation would be so boring.