EYE CONTACT

What does someone mean when he or she says "Eye Contact?" According to Wikipedia, eye contact is a meeting of the eyes between two individuals. It is also a form of nonverbal communication and it is thought to have a large influence on social behavior. When I was much younger, I always had a problem of maintaining my eye contact with anyone whom I used to speak to and I also never really knew the importance of maintaining eye contacts. But as I grew older, I realised that it is essntial to show eye contact when you are communicating as it is an important area of body language. Eye contact is a powerful communication tool. It enables you to connect with your audience, project sincerity and openness, and keep your listener's attention. Researches have shown that about only 10% of communication comes from what we actually say, 30% is made up of the tone in your voice and the remaining 60% of communication comes from your body language. Hence, it is proven that eye contact plays a crucial role in communication. There are several reasons on why eye contact is an important part of communication :

• Eye contact indicates that you like each other - At times, eye contact is a wonderful way to feel that you are being liked. When someone likes you, he or she may maintain an eye contact with you or if someone does not like you, they may give you an indication by refusing to look at you.

• Eye contact indicates that you are listening - A good listener only listens 80% and talks 20% of the time. Therefore, if you are a good listener, you will know that it is essential to show eye contact as a prove that you are listening.

• Eye contact indicates that you are trustworthy - When someone avoids maintaing an eye contact with you, it may be an indication that they are shy, ashamed of something or guilty.

• Eye contact indicates that you respect the person whom you are talking to - When you are talking with someone and you are maintaing your eye contact with that person at the same time, it shows that you are respecting the person because you are not allowing yourself to be distracted by whatever that is happening in your surroundings.

To sum up, eye contact is a very important part of communication. When you maintain your eye contact with someone, it actuallly carries a lot of meaning. As stated above, eye contact enebles you to project sincerity and openess and other. The lady in the video tells us the importance of eye contact in communications.

posted by : MITHRAH KURHANDRAN