The Oxford dictionary defines the word intimacy as a ‘close familiarity or friendship’. The most important factor that helps develop intimacy is communication. It is only after a period of successful communication that one realizes the depth of his/her relationship. And this communication can be in any form – it could be verbal, non-verbal or simply gestures.
Times have changed and so have the means of communication. There was a time when only face-to-face or written communication existed. The telephone was a leap ahead in the field of distant communication. In today’s world the means of expressing oneself are so varied and full of options that at times one is confused as to which means to use. Most of the time, this choice is driven by the level of intimacy.
Though there are numerous means to send ones message across to the receiver yet there exists a level of intimacy that decides how to communicate. If you share a very intimate relationship you could easily go for a face to face talk, call up that person or just send a text message. Communicating over a session of video chat is also preferred if meeting is not possible. But who decides these levels of intimacy. Each one of us has a different meaning attached with each communicating means. For some of us a letter, especially a handwritten one, might be on of the most intimate as it requires complete personal attention of thought and effort.
One recent model lays down 10 Levels of Intimacy that are driven by the ways we communicate with our friends and family. According to this info-graphic presentation the most intimate is talking face-to-face while the least is through the website Twitter.
The internet has invaded our world and many of us use it as the only means of keeping in touch with our loved ones as well as maintain a social circle. We all share information on the web through community websites. Intimacy plays a role over here too, giving us the choice as to how much information to reveal to which person.
The 10 Levels of Intimacy are merely a presentation of one line of thought and can vary according to person. It is more like an exercise that each one of us can take and assign our own percentage to each level. This will give each of us a fair idea of what a particular means of communication means to us and how intimate a means that is. You could also use it as a model to decide how intimate a relationship you share with a particular person based on the means of communication used. Take the test and know your intimacy levels. It could help build a healthier relationship.
Facebook Messages, Qvaq and Avaya are other cool ways of communication, whether in office or home.
