The Handshake Isn’t Dead

People forget how ancient certain gestures are. The handshake is one of them. A brief grip between two human hands started long before business cards, offices, or networking events. It began as proof that neither person carried a weapon. It was the original trust test, done in open view, palm out, fingers visible, nothing hidden. The motion settled nerves in a time when ambush and suspicion shaped daily life. Humans remember rituals that keep them alive. Even if modern culture forgets the origin story, the nervous system does not.

When COVID arrived, the handshake should have died. Logic said so. Public health said so. Disgust reflexes spiked hard enough to make people recoil at the idea of touching a stranger. For a brief moment, the old weapons-check ritual was replaced by fist bumps, elbow taps, nods, and awkward hovering gestures that made humans look like they forgot how to be human. People improvised because the body still needed a signal. A greeting isn’t just politeness. It is the first verification of another person’s intentions, stability, and presence.

The fist bump became a placeholder. It allowed just enough contact to acknowledge someone without breaching germ concerns. But it lacked the information that the handshake has provided for centuries. A handshake gives weight, temperature, steadiness, hesitation, confidence, tremor, grip strength, urgency, or fatigue. The hand transmits data no substitute can deliver. That data shapes the rest of the interaction before a single word is spoken. When people stripped the gesture out of the social script, conversations often felt flat and depersonalized. Two bodies stood near each other without any anchor.

As the pandemic faded, people split into categories.

• Some returned to the handshake without pause.
• Some avoided it.
• Others hesitated in a half-offer that created more confusion than clarity.

The question people keep asking is whether the handshake is outdated or inappropriate in modern settings. The real question is simpler. Does the gesture still communicate something the body needs?

In professional environments, the answer is yes. A handshake isn’t just a greeting. It is a micro-assessment coded in a few seconds of contact. People take in more information than they consciously admit. They register warmth, assertiveness, presence, regulation, or scattered energy. A weak handshake used to be treated as a character flaw. That judgment was never accurate, but it reveals how much weight the ritual carried. People read meaning into the hands of others because the earliest humans had to get good at determining whether approaching strangers were safe.

Those instincts did not disappear because technology advanced or job titles changed. The handshake continues to act as a stabilizer. In unfamiliar interactions, it gives both people something to do with their bodies, removing the uncertainty about how to begin. Saying “hello” without any gesture can feel clinical or detached. Humans prefer rituals with texture. Even people who dislike physical contact often acknowledge that the absence of a greeting gesture alters the tone in a way words alone cannot correct.

The real problem is that no one talks about this directly. People pretend the choice is purely optional or stylistic. But each person is making a behavioral judgment in those first few seconds.

• Some accept the handshake because they believe it conveys respect.
• Others avoid it because they prioritize safety or comfort.
• Both are legitimate motivations.

The friction arises when two people with different expectations meet in a context that relies on shared norms. Business deals, courtrooms, medical settings, and law enforcement interactions often demand a ritual that signals trust, even briefly. Without it, the room can feel unsettled.

This is not an argument for universal handshaking. It is an acknowledgment that the gesture never stopped mattering to the human nervous system. People may choose differently based on health concerns, culture, trauma history, or personal boundaries. But the handshake itself survived because it still transmits a message no other greeting fully replaces. It says this moment matters enough to acknowledge the other person physically. It says there is no concealed threat. It says both parties are entering the interaction voluntarily and with attention.

If the world ever abandons the handshake, it will not be because the gesture lost meaning. It will be because another ritual emerges that communicates trust with the same speed and accuracy. Until then, the handshake remains one of the oldest forms of psychological alignment humans still perform. It opens the door to conversation by calming the part of the brain that never stopped preparing for danger.

Sources That Don’t Suck:

Smithsonian Magazine

American Journal of Sociology

Journal of Nonverbal Behavior

Center for the History of Emotions

National Institutes of Health

Association for Psychological Science