Since the onset of Covid, people have gotten aggressive over mask issues in stores, often getting in each other’s faces and even pushing or shoving one another (in restaurants and on airplanes too). Studies have found an increase in road rage, indicating, in some cases, an escalation of physical altercations on highways and street corners. Even actor Will Smith resorted to physical violence at the Oscars by slapping presenter Chris Rock in (a delayed) reaction to a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith. At yet, because of the pandemic, people have been deprived of cordial and caring physical touch in the form of hugging, closeness, kissing, etc. for a long time. So I’m wondering, where do we land with physical touch as a meaningful form of human communication in today’s world? Are we more physically violent yet less physically intimate/close? Is touch still viewed as both good and bad, depending on the relationship between the two parties (think Nonverbal Violations Expectancy theory here)? Has touch lost its meaning and/or become too risky and been replaced solely by verbal communication (think here of the response to the #MeToo movement)? Is touch to communicate anger (see the Will Smith example) ever ok? Is it ok in situations where others might be in danger and/or are the targets of verbal or emotional abuse? You need not answer all of these questions. They are just questions to ponder as you consider how and why we use haptics (touch communication) in our society and especially within an intercultural environment (where many subcultures are present). Feel free to theorize based on your reading and your observations of life in our current culture, and/or simply share your personal experience/feelings on the topic.