Communication through touch has shown over the centuries that it is essential for social development.

Haptics is communicating through touch. Haptic means tactile or tactile. Currently, this concept is associated more with technology than with art or communication.

Haptic technology uses mechanical communication with users through touch. You can use movements, vibrations, but also irregular rough surfaces. Today this technology is used, among others, in airplanes and smartphones. More mundane uses include pavement markings:

• special surfaces or path limiters felt underfoot for the blind
• marking bicycle paths
• speed bumpers on the road (called sleeping policemen)

Touch was in the past and still is an extremely important element:

• getting to know each other
• communication
• building trust

At this point it is worth recalling the so-called personal distances or communication zones, i.e. the distance separating us from our interlocutors depending on the degree of intimacy, conditions, surroundings and cultural factors.

• intimate zone – reserved for our loved ones
• personal zone – for personal and business contacts
• social zone – for social and business contacts
• public zone – for public relations

These zones clearly define the degree of acceptable physical proximity in social life and in business. While these zones, designated in centimeters or meters, are relatively simple to use, touch is a bit more complicated.

In high-context cultures, where we do business in the personal sphere and express our feelings quite spontaneously, touch is common. Behaviors such as patting the back as a form of praise, touching the hand or forearm to attract attention or the so-called a hand covering when greeting and a relatively long handshake as a sign of familiarity are accepted.

In low-context cultures, where we do business in the social zone, any touch (apart from shaking hands in greeting) will be considered tactless and an attempt at familiarity. There are even more stringent rules, for example for Muslim countries, where there is no mention of personal contacts (touching) a person of the opposite sex. It is also worth paying attention to turning off the left hand – we do not use our left hand.

In business, it is accepted that a handshake is appropriate as a signal to initiate and end any meeting. Of course, we also shake hands when introducing ourselves.

Source:https://poradniknegocjatora.pl/dotyk-w-komunikacji/

Supported by Norway through Norway Grants 2014-2021, in the frame of the Programme “Social Dialogue – Decent Work”.