By Suhaib Ahsan
COVID-19 has changed a lot of things. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, everyone is stressed and nervous. This increase in social distancing has also caused an increase in our emotional distance. Also, the government directive has been strict about wearing a face mask in public.
What happens when the face is hidden behind a face mask?
People find it difficult to communicate with others while having their masks on. People don’t know how to build and maintain relationships when everyone is in a mask.
There are many different emotions that we express on our faces such as;
- Excitement
- Happiness
- Anger
- Fear
Face masks cover our nose and mouth. Thus, making it harder for people to see our emotions including our smiles.
Why smile is important?
Smiles are necessary for social communication. It helps us to know how other people are feeling and how unusual or uncomfortable a person is in current situations. Smiles make us feel good and it is linked to our feelings that we are in a comfortable environment and we’re happy.
However, wearing masks affects our view of other people’s smiles and how we interact with them. In a world with no smile, people will become depressed. Therefore it is important to smile through a mask.
How to smile through a face mask?
Fortunately, we humans are adaptable to change. And we know that masks are here to stay at least for the next year. Therefore, we need to stop social distance becoming emotional distance. We should learn to live with them and express our emotions without removing our mask.
- Body language: Use body language to convey your emotions. Pay attention to your posture, your hand movement. Use bigger gestures to say what your smile can’t such as;
- Waving
- Thumbs up
- Virtual hugs
- Clapping
They all are good ways to convey happiness or joy.
- Voice and language: Use more expressive language and vocal tones. If you're feeling sad, upset, or happy, give your voice those sentiments, to describe how we feel. Use sentences such as;
- Glad to see you
- You are looking great.
- Let’s handle it together
- Feel free to ask me for any help
Get innovative face masks
There are various kinds of masks available in the market some are transparent some have smileys or cartoon characters printed on them. Most of the people are now putting smiling face badges to comfort the people.
-The author is contributing writer at Dental News Pakistan and can be reached at suhaibahsan47@gmail.com