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At its most basic definition, communication is the exchange of information between two parties. It is a two-way system; it always needs a sender of the information and a recipient of the information. When you tell me something and I hear and receive it, that it the act of communicating. When a president addresses a crowd of people, that is the act of communicating. Writing a book for children is an act of communicating with a large group of people. This form of interchange requires that both parties are able to understand the information that is being conveyed and it is one of the foundation stones of our existence and social beings, so it is very important that we understand what it is and how it operates.
In humans, there are several types of communication methods that are used to exchange and convey information. These include:
Nonverbal: Nonverbal communication is also known as body language. It is the way we convey information without using our words-instead we use gestures and facial expressions. It can also include the kinds of clothing, hairstyles, and other physical representations that we use to send explicit or implicit information about ourselves into the world.
Oral: Oral communication is verbal and requires that we convey information by using our words along with other visual cues such as gestures, images etc. Communicating orally allows us to express our emotions in words and allows us to be more direct. It is also a vital form of interchange in the modern world-we use it for presentations, interpersonal relationships, education, and work.
Written: Written communication has developed over time and though it s vital part of the fabric of the industrialized world, it is not a necessity for human life and society to function like oral and nonverbal interchange are. Writing allows us to convey information at distances and for large audience, allows us to convey stories and fictions, and makes it possible to facilitate the needs of societies that span large spaces and have large populations.
There are many more detailed descriptions of the various methods of interchange that take place between humans and other species of animals, but the three listed above are the most basic forms of communicating styles. Communicating is at the nexus of our activity as human beings. We need to constantly share and receive information in order to build relationships, accomplish tasks, work, and at the fundamental level, survive.
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