An unstoppable desire to socialize with others follows us from birth. Over time, we learn to use other ways to invite the right people to connect with us. This is the theory. But today's reality tells us a different story.
Although we are surrounded by technology that promises to make it easier for us to connect with others, feelings of loneliness are deeper than ever before. Even before the pandemic, nearly half of US adults reported feeling isolated, without valuable company, and withdrawn from others. The pandemic only worsened an already alarming situation.
What is even more worrying is that the children are also lonely. A national survey on loneliness showed that children aged 10 to 12 are the loneliest group.
And this is not just a statistic: Loneliness in children is directly linked to the development of psychological problems such as anxiety and depression
In a world where the need to be close to others is so great, how come our relationships failed?
Connecting with others, in principle, seems simple. We meet someone, get to know them better and decide if we want to go deeper in our relationship. But the big question is: What information should we collect during this recognition? And how do we use it to successfully transition from one stage of the relationship to another?
The answer lies in communication. We must be able to use the right "language" to deepen our relationships. But that's difficult in a world where communication is often reduced to text messages, emojis and online dating apps.
One thing is clear: Technology is not the magic solution to creating strong and lasting relationships. If we don't learn to communicate and connect with others in a real way, we risk always being alone in a crowded world.
As a result, we have had fewer opportunities to learn the nonverbal skills needed to connect with one another. The consequence is that we may be less able to send and receive information accurately, increasing the chance of errors that interfere with our efforts to connect with others—leaving us and our children frustrated and lonely.
If this is true, we must become more adept at using non-verbal language. We can achieve this in several ways. One is to spend less time in front of screens and more time with others in face-to-face interactions. Another way is to learn it the same way we learn verbal communication skills.
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