Hey, we’re back with our classical topics, aka communication related subjects. Today as always we have pretty broad but essential content to handle, and as you’ve probably seen in the title, that’s the different types of communications that exist. Of course, I’m strictly going to make mention of the four main types, but keep in mind that they’re not individual entities. By this I mean that in most common situations you’ll encounter more than one of these different types. To make things easier I’ll go ahead and provide examples, so sit back, relax and let’s learn some communication!
The first and most common dichotomy you’ll encounter is that of verbal and non verbal communication. To dumb it down a bit, this includes (but isn’t specifically reduced to) talking and body movements respectively. Truth is, it’s much more complex than that, but let’s keep it simple for now. Verbal is our standard type of communication, we use it essentially in every mundane encounter except for some extremely formal circumstances that require a written procedure (this is normally observed in the first instances of our bureaucratic procedures). Of course, since verbal communication is present in so many different areas, it’s far from being simple. We use different pitches in our voice to portray different emotions. So, even if we technically say the same thing, what truly has an impact is how we say it. For example, it’s not the same if your friend tells you that they broke up with their significant other while they’re voice is cracking, as if they were to say that same sentence, but screaming with joy at the top of their lungs. As explained in previous posts that would alter the overall meaning of the message portrayed verbally.
But of course, there aren’t many cases where verbal communication is left all on its own. Some exceptions would be maybe radio, but even then there exists different genres such as theatrical radio that involve other elements to supplement verbal communication. And, one of the most common types of communication that accompanies verbal, is coincidentally non verbal. Think of the examples stated in the previous paragraph. Your friend who spoke with a cracked voice might have been crying, tears still streaming down their cheeks, hands towards their chest and all of this complemented with a stuffy nose. While your other friend, the one who was screaming at the top of their lungs, may have raised their arms high into the sky, a smile stretched upon their face from ear to ear, radiance emanating from their eyes. Could it have been possible to decipher both their meanings with just verbal communication? Yes. But, non verbal communication is on of the best complements to this, it makes it much easier to understand what others are trying to convey. On top of that, it’s also quite often that non verbal communication is instinctive, and out of our conscious control, although that doesn’t mean we aren’t able to control it at will under particular circumstances.
Now if you remember, we’ve mentioned writing as a way of communication. So, our third type of communication is that which is portrayed in a written fashion. If you think about it, written communication in older times was used to convey messages when the physical presence of the sender wasn’t possible. Nowadays we have things such as phone calls and audio recordings, so why do we still write? Well, society attributes a special significance to writing as a type of communication, one might say it’s romanticized. We normally write under formal circumstances, while in school or at our jobs. But we also write in much less formal environments, the internet being one of the most easy examples in which this is portrayed. Writing has a special thing embedded within it. When we write, we normally don’t do it as if we were simply talking to others, even though we would use the same language as a code, we have secondary codes that make them differ. And of course, there are other circumstances in which writing carries a whole different meaning on its own. For example, a letter has a whole different impact both on the sender and on the receiver compared to if the content of the message would have been portrayed using a different type of communication such as verbal or non verbal.
As a closure, I’d like to mention our fourth and final type of communication, one that conventionally might not be perceived as such by the masses, but nonetheless is still a crucial and intrinsic part within the types of communications. With this I’m referring to none other than visual communication. What is visual communication you may be asking yourself? Well, it can range anywhere from a simple pixelated sprite, to a complex and intrinsic photography, or even a film. Maybe some of you might not realize this, but the film industry was and still is one of the most prominent forms of idea implanting, and there for communication. But that’s a topic for a whole other post. Visual communication may seem fairly new in comparison to other types, but it’s even portrayed in aspects as simple as caveman wall paintings. It’s main appeal is of course it’s visual impact. This would refer to one of the human principles of observation, where a message is easier to grasp if it has an impact. And considering that an important portion of our modern day population is impacted by appealing visual productions, visual communication is essentially a must. A quick example would effectively be any giant billboard on a highway. They are of course normally correlated to advertising, which is one of the most prominent industries in which visual communication thrives. The billboards also act as an example of how visual communication can cooperate with written (you may frequently encounter billboards that have an appealing image accompanied by a portion of text such as a catchphrase or quote).
I hope this quick informative post about the different types of communication has been of some use to everyone reading it. If you’re interested in learning more about these, make sure to stay tuned to the blog, because it’s quite possible each of the four types mentioned will have their own dedicated spots at some point considering how much content can be explained regarding them. Remember, the different types of communication are segregated as such for conventional reasons regarding their theoretical study, but in practice, they are normally presented in conjunction with each other.