Electronic versus face-to-face communication - Research Paper Example

Cues are a type of receptive communication. Modern day electronic communication has provided greater convenience and cost saving especially on the need of long distance communication. At the click of a button, one is able to communicate in real time with another person thousands of miles away (Tse &Viswanath, 2005). It can be argued that this developments in communication technology have done more good to communication than bad but, there are certain aspects of communication especially non-verbal that are lost as a result.

Citing the example of SeeStorm messenger and other chat sites with the same concept of online communication, individuals can talk to friends, family members or acquaintances without having to incur the expense of long distance calling. Basic concept underlying the SeeStorm chat room is that the people communicating over the platform do it similar to talking over the phone but for free with an extra tool for visual communication using 3D talking heads which act and speak in synchrony with a person’s voice hence providing an enhanced level of expressiveness.

Though this may be considered as fun and innovative it does not depict the true picture of the feelings and emotions being laid across by the people communicating on the platform. Consequently, online communication in this sense deprives non-verbal cues which make up to two-thirds of a conversation. Non-verbal communication can be split and grouped into four major categories: aesthetic, physical, signs and symbols. Briefly, aesthetic communication basically involves creative expressions such as arts, music and dance.

Physical communication covers communication on the personal aspect and includes actions like a smile, a frown, a wink, etc. which are mostly used in a social conversation along with spoken words. Signs are a mechanical type of non-verbal communication and include things such as lights, horns, and sirens (Pease & Pease, 2008). Finally, symbols of communication are purpose based and are used mainly for religious or personal status reasons. They could also be used by individuals seeking to build their self-esteem.

They include items such as cars, clothing, jewellery or other things that communicate the level of social status, power, financial soundness, or even religion. In online communication such as the SeeStorm platform, a number of non-verbal cues are left out by the persons communicating. In particular, the aspect of physical non-verbal communication and also symbols cannot be relayed effectively on an online platform. Besides the emoticons that are provided for by most chat platforms to account for emotions that are being portrayed by the persons communicating, there is no physical presence that can truly depict the emotions actually felt.

Moreover, online communication denies people the opportunity of the sense of touch that could be felt in face to face communication (Burgoon, Guerrero & Floyd, 2010). This hence means that the intensity and degree of the information being passed across by the communicating persons is not as effective as the face to face conversations. Body language which is also a vital element of communication is also lost when people result to online communication. Another core tool in communication since the beginning of time is sound.

The tone of your