Digital Body Language by Erica Dhawan

 

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

Title: Digital Body Language: How to Build Trust and Connection, No Matter the Distance
Author: Erica Dhawan
Release Date: 5.11.21
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Publisher's Summary

The definitive guide to communicating and connecting in a hybrid world.

Email replies that show up a week later. Video chats full of “oops sorry no you go” and “can you hear me?!” Ambiguous text-messages. Weird punctuation you can’t make heads or tails of. Is it any wonder communication takes us so much time and effort to figure out? How did we lose our innate capacity to understand each other?

Humans rely on body language to connect and build trust, but with most of our communication happening from behind a screen, traditional body language signals are no longer visible -- or are they? In Digital Body Language, Erica Dhawan, a go-to thought leader on collaboration and a passionate communication junkie, combines cutting edge research with engaging storytelling to decode the new signals and cues that have replaced traditional body language across genders, generations, and culture. In real life, we lean in, uncross our arms, smile, nod and make eye contact to show we listen and care. Online, reading carefully is the new listening. Writing clearly is the new empathy. And a phone or video call is worth a thousand emails.

Digital Body Language will turn your daily misunderstandings into a set of collectively understood laws that foster connection, no matter the distance. Dhawan investigates a wide array of exchanges—from large conferences and video meetings to daily emails, texts, IMs, and conference calls—and offers insights and solutions to build trust and clarity to anyone in our ever changing world.


My Review
A necessity for the digital workplace! Have you ever wanted to pull your hair out because someone chose to "reply all" or cringed at an emoji-filled communication from a young staff member to a member of upper management? You may have thought "why don't they know better?" but the fact of the matter is that although we are all so plugged in, we haven't been taught basic digital etiquette. Author Erica Dhawan not only provides a primer for how to better communicate and understand each other through our digital mediums but also adds crucial insight into the different digital body languages between genders, generations, and cultures. I really loved this book and think it should be integrated into every company's onboarding and training program. I agreed with Dhawan about just about everything...except one thing. She suggests all people be on camera during a video call. I'm going to have to take a hard pass on that one. No. Just...no.