What’s in a handshake? As the world gravitates toward digital, well, everything, the human aspect in many daily events has vanished. Instead of socializing, the typical teen now spends hours behind a screen, engaging in what’s come to be “social interaction.” But what’s social about avoiding people in favor of an emotionless screen?

Posting photos doesn’t express true character; it is a small reprieve from admitting isolation, a desperate plea for attention. Encouraging our society to become antisocial is the wrong path to go down, and you have to wonder what we’re missing with dwindling face-to-face interaction. A society without good, old-fashioned handshakes.

Humans are, at the core, social beings. We lose part of our humanity when we abandon personal interactions and replace them with the latest phones and apps. According to bodylanguageexpert.co.uk, body language and tone of voice account for 93 percent of communications. That’s 93 percent of an intended message lost in digital communications. Discovering the true emotions of a person, the confidence, empathy, fear, friendliness and sincerity, reveals what words alone can’t.

Personal interactions go far beyond literal meaning – they are real, social things to remember later. People are the root of independent thought, and true personalities are lost behind a keyboard.

In “The Effect of Technology on Face-to-Face Communication,” a research study conducted at Elon University, Emily Drago said, “Findings suggest that technology has a negative effect on both the quality and quantity of face-to-face communication. Despite individuals’ awareness of the decrease of face-to-face communication as a result of technology, more than 62 percent of individuals observed on Elon’s campus continue to use mobile devices in the presence of others.”

The saddest part about the growing trend of avoiding social interaction is the lack of desire to change it. The ease of communication over social media and the Internet allows for mass messages and quicker business. But we’ve come to interpret “faster” as “lazier.” Rather email than meet, rather text than call, social interaction has slowly shifted from personal, human-centered activities to indifferent, surface-level business. So while communications occur in a fraction of the time, tangible connections pay the price.

“While we’re communicating more, we may not necessarily be building relationships as strongly,” said Paul Booth, assistant professor of media and cinema studies in the College of Communication at DePaul University in Chicago (socialworktoday.com).

Taking the time to meet face-to-face shows that the other person cared enough to be there, too. Even with premeditated intent of one course of action or another, personal meetings force people to listen to one another, actually taking into account what they have to say. Rather than immediately discounting differing opinions and bashing them, face-to-face reactions remind us that other people are the ones saying these things and censor the negativity that is otherwise unleashed behind a keyboard. Meaningful, personal interactions ­– handshakes – instead open the door to other opinions and thoughts, a door that might otherwise be closed with strictly online communication.

What has happened to my generation that a text message means more than a person’s feelings? As millennials prepare to dominate the world stage, we’re faced with some of the most pressing issues of the century. Catastrophes lurk around every corner, ills like global warming, disintegrating international relations, the increasing spread of incurable diseases and, for Americans, the overall degradation of status in the world view. Worst of all, however, is the social catastrophe that draws ever closer. It’s scary to think that in a few short years, my generation will be facing these problems on a daily basis, but if everyone has to deal with these issues alone and their own way, our world will become a cruel and bleak place. The only way we stand a chance is if we stand together and realize that people, not technology, are the only things that can fix our world.

Handshakes aren’t fabricated or fake. They’re real. Just like people, they express meaning and personality, intent and potential and the realization that there’s another person on every side of an issue. So what is really in a handshake? More than a greeting. More than can ever be replaced. But if nothing else, they’re reminders of humanity, reminders that a dying breed of physical interaction shouldn’t be left in the dust.

Connor Henry is a feature editor at El Diablo, the Durango High School student newspaper. His parents are Alain and Tebby Henry of Durango.