The modern world is constantly making new technological advances. Cell phones, networking sites and video calling sites, such as Skype, are in high demand. Despite the many options and easy use of these communication devices, there has been a decline in communication skills and a general lack of good communication.

The cell phone, email, instant messaging and personal networking sites all offer accessible means of communication. Yet, those communication methods leave out important elements of communication – body language, expression, tone and context.

Communication does not simply consist of language and words.

Body language plays an important role in getting one’s thoughts and messages across to another person. Crossed arms over the chest may signify annoyance or a closed-off attitude; touching one’s face during conversation can imply deceit. Continuous eye contact may indicate alertness and interest in what the other person has to say, but by using devices such as cell phones and texting, this vital communication means is lost.

Texting and email have no way of showing body language; thus, messages may be misinterpreted, turning a positive into a negative or vice versa.

Facial expressions are also lost in electronic communication and cannot be replaced by text emoticons. Eye contact is an essential aspect of good communication because it can show interest and attentiveness or distraction and deceit. Without these aspects of communication, meaning can be lost.

Another important aspect of communication is facial expressions. Faces give away people’s emotions and reactions during conversations.

Tone is also an issue when it comes to communication or the lack thereof. It is a skill to control tone within speech and especially difficult to control tone in writing.

The issue of taking words out of context also distorts effective communication and may elicit a negative response from the receiver of an email, text message or other written communication. Readers may sometimes focus on a certain passage of written communication, removing it from its context and thus changing its intended meaning. For example, people may focus on the beginning words of a sentence, then assume the rest, or perhaps focus on positively or negatively charged words when determining the intended meaning of the passage.

Furthermore, language has lost sensitivity to insults, especially regarding race, gender and sexuality. In an Associated Press MTV poll, teens and young adults said that they feel less inhibited in using offensive language when texting or posting to sites like Facebook than they would speaking face to face. Most of the offensive terms target minorities and women and are used so frequently and without repercussion that they have become the norm among young people. It is important to remember that not everyone shares the same views and sense of humor; thus, slurs may be offending more people than one realizes.

The greatest problem is that the human element has left the communications scene and been replaced by small, technical devices which do not effectively communicate meaning.