Will Handshakes Survive Social Distancing? Comm Studies Professor Talks to Charlotte Observer
March 25, 2020
- Author
- Jay Pfeifer
Social distancing has made the handshake or鈥攇asp鈥攁 hug a thing of the past. But when people finally can return to getting closer than six feet, will these social greetings return as well?
Amanda Martinez, chair of communication studies and associate professor of communication studies and sociology, talked to the Charlotte Observer about the future of those greetings.
Martinez, who has taught classes in nonverbal communication, says the recent shift has underscored just how essential鈥攁nd widespread鈥攖his kind of connection is.
鈥淚鈥檓 hearing from a lot of students, and friends, and family members, that this is really challenging, because we didn鈥檛 realize the extent to which we just casually touch each other.鈥
Will it come back? Martinez says it depends on how long the pandemic era lasts.
If it ends relatively quickly, 鈥淚迟鈥檚&苍产蝉辫;so ingrained in us to be social creatures that I really feel like we鈥檒l bounce right back into it and be really happy about it. It鈥檒l do a lot for our overall well-being鈥攆or our mental and emotional health鈥攖o be able to go back to the way things were.鈥
