Are non-verbal cues all that important?

[Jeffrey A. Roth]

Last week the Wall Street Journal (www.wsj.com - Mark Bauerlein) had an article about Gen Y not being able to "read" each other. Which got me thinking "Is non-verbal communication" all that important? Is the sound of a person voice or the smile on their face needed? Nielsen Mobile reported late last year that teenagers on average sent and received 2,272 texts per month. A year earlier the National School Boards Association estimated that middle and high school students devoted an average of 9 hours a week to social networking and I am sure it is much higher now when you consider the explosion of WEB 2.0 technologies in the last year. Add email, blogging, IM, tweets, and other digital activities and you realize what a hurried, 24/7 communications system young people experience today. Most concerning is nearly all of this communication is in the form of written words only.

The L.A. Times reported last year that some companies had installed the "topless" meetings in which not only laptops but iPhones and other tools are banned to combat another issue we are seeing in business "continuous partial attention". With a device close by, attendees at workplace meetings simply can not...

Read the full article at http://www.interactyx.com/blog/are-non-verbal-cues-all-that-important

Jeffrey A. Roth
www.interactyx.com