signs

Do you have twelve minutes to spare? This video which was introduced by a friend and it was taken by the very famous Youtube.com called "Signs" got me intrigued. Communications as i know not only consists of verbal communication but also non-verbal communication such as body language. "Signs" shows a form of non-verbal communication which uses papers as a medium of communication. This video if i am not mistaken uses the transactional model whereby there is simultaneous exchange between communicators. For example, when the man wrote a question shows it to the women, the women replied back using papers as well almost immediately. In my opinion, this type of communication is not very typical and it may be similar to passing notes to one another in class. However, it is very rare for people from another building and also another floor to exchange notes using windows to communicate to the other person. I find that very interesting. It is also very "romantic" and "sweet" if you are able to find your soulmate in that kind of way.

However, there are limitations in this form of communication as well. There exist time lapse when communicating. Also, there's the factor of noise which consists of physical, psychological and social factors that influence communications. For example, in the video when the man wanted to reply back to the women, the women was called by the boss and she had to go. The boss represents the social factor. This type of communication may also lead to several problems when the people communicating meet up face-to-face. This is because initial acts of communication will influence subsequence acts of communication. They will get so use to such non-verbal communication that it may be awkward when communicating in real life. This may be seen in the video whereby when the couple meet up, they were so stunned and didnt know what to say to each other. The women then proceeded to show the word "Hi" that she wrote on a piece of paper.

Despite the limitations that exist in this type of communication, I feel that we should give this type of communication a try. Maybe across the hallways in schools or another person from a housing block close to you and who knows what will happen. Maybe new friendships will be formed or maybe you will find your soulmate just like in this video. You'll never know.