Interpreting Silence as a Non-Verbal Cue in WhatsApp Conversations among Pakistani Students: A Discourse Analysis

Abstract

This study examines the perception of Pakistani university students in regards to silence as a non- verbal communication tool in a WhatsApp conversation. The research design is a quantitative descriptive research design that focuses on discourse analysis to investigate the emotional, social, and cultural meanings of silence in digital communication. The research conducted with a structured questionnaire among students in Pakistan demonstrated that silence is a complex mode of communication and is commonly applied either in order to show the respect to a person, evade confrontation or express some emotion like hesitation or reflection. The results show silence on WhatsApp is not an inactive lack of communication but rather an active expression that is largely culturally centered, technologically centered, and interpersonally centered. Students linked the time to the delayed responses and the presence of message indicators such as seen to politeness and avoidance, which demonstrates the difficulty of understanding silence in the digital world. The discussion also reveals that silence may or may not produce harmony but may cause emotional distance in relation to the situation and depth of relations. Moreover, the participants were more difficult to interpret the silence in digital communication than in face-to-face interaction because of the absence of visual and tonal information. This study concludes that silence in the WhatsApp discussions is an important non- verbal communicative strategy that is affected by cultural etiquette, emotional sensitivity, and social norms. The work is a contribution to discourse analysis because it presents a controversial factor of digital communication, namely silence, as a potent, context-specific aspect of Pakistani culture.