Page 25 - Blue Valley News February 2021
P. 25
TODAY’S CHILD
autonomy from parents, contribute to the confusion and possible misinterpretation will happen is that we will make a big effort
formation of close friendships in adolescence. regarding the emotional reaction of the to get our relationships back up and running.
Online friendships are not the same as person. We want to connect. So, let’s keep the social
building friendships face-to-face. connections going and even start some new
While this may not pose too great a challenge ones, albeit mostly online for now.
for adults, as we know to ask if we are
6. Face masks are impacting our not getting the complete picture, young Life is indeed better with friends! BV
connection children look for emotional cues in parents,
The most powerful tool in human connection teachers and other contacts. We need to be
is the face. Even when strangers speak cognisant of the absence of this information
different languages, people are able to and perhaps allow time to expand on verbal
communicate using facial expressions. This explanations to people, especially children
is because facial expressions are simply the and adolescents.
universal language of human understanding.
Face masks help prevent the transmission Keep working on your social
of Covid. But because we cannot see the connections
lower half of the face when someone is Evidence indicating the significance of
wearing a mask, our ability to understand friends in our lives has been growing. With • Marital, Couples & Family
is reduced considerably. We are forced to the decline in the nuclear family, values are Therapy
rely on language and gestures which limit also changing. People are valuing friends • Counselling Children,
the extent to which we can interpret subtle more highly than before. The growing Adolescents & Adults
nuances. Face masks block emotional significance of friendship may be one of the • “Teen” Challenges
signalling. They impair our social interactions most important cultural changes of our time. • Behavioural & Adjustment
and our ability to understand and empathise To reap the full benefits of social connection, Challenges
with others. Masks are creating situations it helps to have a network of friends. Even as • Stress-Related Challenges
where people are misinterpreting non-verbal social media platforms enable us to connect • Adjustment to Depression &
communication. The most obvious example with hundreds or even thousands of other Anxiety
here is a smile. When wearing a face mask, people, research shows that the number of • Subject & Career Counselling
we do not see the visible mouth. A smile meaningful connections we can manage to • Psychometric Testing
uses both the upper and lower half of your sustain has stayed the same. In other words,
face. With the face mask, the lower half of technology enables us to connect with loads For an appointment please call
the face is covered and the onlooker cannot of people but we still choose to have real 083 376 1995
see the mouth, but they can see the upper connections with only a select few.
half of your face. In a smile, the upper half of Fees are charged according to Scale of
our faces produce a ‘frown’ and wrinkling of The strength of our social connection will be Benefits
the eye area. Without all the information, as even more seriously tested while numbers
only the lower half of the face is visible, the of infection increase. BUT humans are highly
onlooker can only see the frown and hence resilient. People are putting in the effort to Pr. Nr. 0860000114022
has only half the information to make a call connect, even with all of today’s challenges. Reg. No.: PS 0080543
on non-verbal communication. It may cause When the pandemic ends, the first thing that
BLUE VALLEY NEWS • Issue 1 2021 • 23