Haptic

Haptics

. What's Haptics? It's a Greek word that means "I touch" – so it's the study of our sense of touch in medical, biological or technological applications  .


Touch is also a way to communicate with others.  I'll even dare to say that this is actually the most basic communication tool we have:  is there a more direct and intimate way to interact with our world than using touch?
Haptics is closely related to the study of  the study of space in body language. In both cases we deal with personal space and territory - touch is usually the direct result of allowing others into our intimate space. We obviously wouldn't allow others to touch us if we don't feel comfortable being around them.

 What's So Special About it?

There are 2 unique qualities to Haptics that separates it from any other type of communication:
1. Touch is the most 'real' way to sense the world around us. It's hard to believe something is real unless we can actually touch and feel it. So while we take it mostly for granted, our sense of touch should not be taken lightly.
 

Because without the sense of touch we would feel very isolated and helpless.  Our skin, the largest organ of our body, is also a sensor - it's filled with many sensory nerves sensitive to heat and cold, pressure, vibration and pain. We receive an endless stream of information about our environment from our skin.  In fact, studies show that babies who lack a sense of touch have a low chance of survival, in contrast to the lack of other senses. That's probably why it's the first sense we develop when we're embryos.

In short - touch is the initial and most basic form of communication we have as humans and animals. 
2. Touch is a very emotional type of communication, you can say it's the most 'human' contact we have. In a sense, it's like delivering our emotions in a physical form. There's probably no better way to comfort someone but to embrace and hold them, or to show your disapproval with a sounding slap on the face.


With these 2 qualities in mind we can understand that we're dealing here with something very "touchy" and volatile – it's like an emotional dynamite. It's a strong communication tool, perhaps the strongest, but if it's used improperly it will backfire hard…