Online communication and body language

The COVID-19 emergency brought out the role of online digital technologies. The increase in online social interactivity was accelerated by social distancing, which has been recognized to have adverse effects due to physical and emotional isolation (Canet-Juric et al., 2020). Body language is central to social interactions, and its role is clearly diminished when going online, but the relevance of this change is still not clear. This transition toward online could affect the wellness of the people, especially the population with specific fragilities, e.g., young people and seniors (Beam and Kim, 2020; Canet-Juric et al., 2020; Fernández Cruz et al., 2020). We here briefly present our viewpoint on some issues concerning changes in body interactions in online interpersonal communication. Our aim is to encourage constructive discussion and raise awareness about these very topical issues.