News Story - The Overall Effect of Coronavirus on Interpersonal Communication

Interpersonal communication is one of the most significant aspects of human communication in general. It plays a major role in our personal relationships that we continue to foster, our professional relationships with colleagues, and the overall quality of our professional endeavors and projects, and initial communication that we use to make a first impression and to establish a new relationship. The most commonly used platforms for such productive communication used to consist of places of social gathering and background - whether that be getting together with family at a local restaurant, getting to know someone at a more romantic level while doing a social activity (such as going to the movies), or gathering in a conference room to convey significant information and research to fellow colleagues. We, as an American society, thrive in social settings. They truly set the tone for we express ourselves, come together to share common passion, expression, and thought, as well as celebrate familiar traditions, milestones, holidays, and monumental ceremonies. 

    With the sudden and rapidly paced Covid-19 outbreak came an abrupt and dejecting halt to these social platforms that have always been, as we have all found out in the most difficult of ways, essential to just about every aspect of our daily lives and this aspect is directly correlated to the concept of communication - interpersonal communication, to be more specific. Every generation has a monumental era-defining event that changes our economy, our means of communication and thought, as well as the evolution of technology so that we can more efficiently adapt to our new surroundings and return to a new version of order and normal daily life. Due to this outbreak, we have had to find ways to hold onto that integral and vital interpersonal communication, and technological means of communication such as apps like FaceTime, Whatsapp, Zoom, and Skype have allowed us to do just this. However, Tiffanie Wen states in her enlightening article "How Coronavirus has Transformed the way that we Communicate", that even with the assistance of these communicative applications, many are still struggling with the concept of social distancing and are not adapting well to the new standard methods of expression and communication. We naturally are hard-wired to thrive off of human interaction and without that, we can really struggle with this new normal. 

    Many elderly people find it difficult and challenging to operate technology that they are not used to on a daily basis. People also find it hard to transition from conversing with their best friend to immediately conversing with their boss all without a change of scenery. A lot of people also struggle with phone phobia, which is a direct byproduct of social anxiety which stems from fear of judgement which is further exacerbated by the unease of not being physically in the presence of someone else to be able to observe their body language (which makes up for seventy percent of communication) and to therefore see how people are reacting to them and their information. This can easily exhaust anyone - even those without phone phobia. How do we mitigate these issues? Psychiatry professor Jean Kim places a strong emphasis on exposure therapy. 

    The more that we expose ourselves to the uncomfortable feelings associated with technological communication, the more second nature it will become to us and the better we will be at handling those apps. She also states that it is beneficial to carve out specific times to be online to maintain structure which will ultimately offset any sort of suspense and added stress which can ensue from that. She also states that it is always acceptable to simply not pick up or answer if you are too busy or too tired, but it is extremely important to explain to the person calling you why you are not answering so that there are not feelings of neglect or irritation.   

Article Link: https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20200408-coronavirus-how-lockdown-helps-those-who-fear-the-phone