Body Language: A Necessary Tool Today

Jayson DeNovellis

Professor Waugh

ENGL 101-BL04

7 December 2017

Body Language: A Necessary Tool Today

        Communication is one of the most important skills for humans to have. Whenever we are in the presence of someone else, we are constantly communicating with them. Even when you are alone, you can communicate with yourself or through a message that someone else sees later. In order to succeed in life, one must display excellent and effective communication. Among adolescents and millennials, the younger generation of today, who were born into the age of digital communication, many people lack fundamental communication skills that prevent them from reaching their full potential. While they may be highly skilled in the technical aspects of their field, a lack of communication skills will hinder them from showcasing their skills or products. Communication is not just done verbally, by way of words. In fact, about ninety-three percent of one’s communication is done through nonverbal communication, especially tone of voice and body language (Edwards, et al.). Although we live in a highly technologically-based society and mainly communicate over some sort of medium, we are losing basic skills in our body language and nonverbal communication that are fundamental in the way we communicate with one another. People must put more of an emphasis on using body language and using it in the right ways. In many situations, it determines whether or not someone interprets you correctly. The way people judge you can have great effects on how you are defined and how your identity is perceived to be. It can affect what type and level of job you get, along with your close interpersonal relationships.

People have been communicating since the dawn of time. When the first humans came into existence on this planet, they did not know how to speak yet. The way they communicated was primarily through body language. Even in cave drawings that still exist today, we are able to interpret the messages that these humans were trying to send through the body language of the animals and humans drawn. Again, this is because, for a while, they could not write either. Speaking came well before writing. “The first modern humans evolved from their early hominid predecessors about 250,000 years ago.” The earliest known language system among humans was developed around 50,000 years ago, while the first known form of writing, cuneiform, was developed in Ancient Mesopotamia around 3,500 years ago (Homo Sapiens and Early Human Migration). Humans existed and thrived in a society that did not involve technology or verbal communication for thousands of years. They were able to collaborate and complete many tasks while primarily communicating through body language with elements such as posture, gestures, facial expressions, and symbols.

As time passed and verbal communication was developed through languages, along with written communication afterward, innovative practices and products were developed to make the lives of humans easier. Some of these products have even made it easier for humans to communicate with one another so that they did not have to primarily communicate in-person, face-to-face. These inventions have evolved over the past few centuries from the telegraph, to the telephone, to text messaging, along with mass methods of communication like the radio, television, and social media. As each of these methods has progressively made interpersonal communication more accessible to humans, the amount of communication that is done face-to-face has been declining significantly. This means that amount of body language used has been substantially in decline as well. Despite this fact, it is important to point out that the significance of body language has not gone down. Many scholars have argued that it is even more important today because it used less. Body language still has the same effect that it has always had. That has not changed. It still conveys the same messages. The way we move around and display ourselves in public space is employed in the same ways they have always been and for the same purposes. These may be slightly different now, but we have always judged people based on the same factors: looks, actions, performance, abilities, comfort, etc. A major part of this is done with our eyes, judging the body language of others.

As the technology has been improving and reducing the amount of face-to-face communication used over time, people have allowed the strength of their body language skills to decrease as well, while they should be remaining as prominent and effective as they were in previous generations. This is a major concern among established professionals and employers who are seeking potential employees in the workforce. They see adolescents and millennials as people lacking fundamental communication skills, which are highly regarded and highly attributed to success in the workplace. In the current society, people are not utilizing body language as often as before, so it is not a surprise that these skills are inadequate among most individuals. There needs to be a greater emphasis focused on body language in the way we communicate. When we communicate through body language, typically it occurs in important situations, such as interviews, love relationships, school, and work. These elements contribute to what people generally attribute one’s success in life too. On the other hand, basic verbal communication without body language, such as phone calls, messaging, and social media, are typically employed in leisure situations, which do not nearly have the same effect on one’s success as the previously mentioned areas of life. Being able to effectively communicate through body language will not only help someone convey information easier and clearer but it will also make them stand out amongst their peers and make them more attractive as an individual and more likely to succeed in life.

        For the remainder of this paper, I will be arguing why body language is important in today’s society. As you have already been introduced to the topic and the premise of my argument with a few logical reasons in support of it, I will dive further into the argument by providing examples, statistics, and reasoning from outside sources with experience and expertise in this topic. Specific topics that these sources and my further analysis will cover are body language use in the workforce, in school, and in relationships, along with the impact of technology and social media on body language, and ways to use body language properly and to your advantage.

Why do body language and nonverbal communication matter? As stated in The Communication Age, “Nonverbal messages matter because they communicate feelings and attitudes” and “they are more convincing than verbal messages” (Edwards et al. 78). Many people go by the common saying that “Actions speak louder than words.” For writer Jeffrey Cooper, “Actions Really Do Speak Louder Than Words” (113). It is much easier to determine if people are lying through their facial expressions and body movements than through the words they speak (114). “Seeing is believing.” We interpret people more with our eyes than with our ears. This is not only because sights are more attractive and noticeable than sounds but also because we spend most of our time in silence, not speaking at all. This is certainly the case in today’s society, which is completely different than it was just ten years ago. People are now engaging with others online more and more for everyday communication. Less and less body language is conveyed. We live in an age where most communication is done through the words that come out of our mouths or through some sort of medium. Though these points are true, we still need strong body language skills for important times in life, such as getting a job or being in a relationship with a loved one. Since we use body language less in today’s world, it makes it more imperative that we need these skills to be strong. Each time people display body language, they get a chance to practice it and learn from their mistakes on how to improve it. With fewer chances to convey body language, there is less room for failure.