Letter writing - by hand - is linked with mental health benefits.

Letter-writing may seem like a lost art form. However, during the initial quarantine and beyond, statistics showed an increase in sales of notecards and writing papers. TikTok's hashtag #penpal has over 192 million views and penpal communities are increasing globally.

• Public speaking, clarity, and tone of voice, and the ability to organize our thoughts in a logical manner are the most common.
• When thinking about oral communication, this would include the pacing of our speech along with the tone of our voice.
• When thinking about written communication, this would include word usage, sentence length, and formatting.

But this is only half of communication.

New research published in Psychological Science found that being angry at a false accusation can make the accused come off as untrustworthy, and therefore, guilty. However, their anger is usually a sign that they're innocent.

The study noted that we pay attention to other's emotions to understand social situations. It's particularly true when deciding whether we should trust someone.

Small talk can be defined by how much information is exchanged. If you know nothing more about the other person than you knew before the conversation, then it is small talk.

Research shows that small talk with people, even with strangers, can boost our mood. While small talk often feels boring and awkward, one can turn it into enjoyable small talk by commenting on a shared experience or asking open-ended questions.

• Children often cannot formulate their words to express what they're feeling. If you ask, "How was your day?" they may shrug because they don't know what part of their day you're interested in. Making your questions more specific can help: "What was the best thing about your day?"
• Try to meet your child's emotions, rather than telling them how to feel. If your child says, "I hate everyone in my class", you may want to tell them that it is not a nice thing to say. Instead, help them find other words to draw out their emotions. "It sounds like you had a really bad day."