Body Language & The Non-Verbal Word

I Googled the words “Body Language.”

Guess what I found?  Over 6 million people targeting “body language” for their own purposes.  I would bet that all instances do not directly reflect on what we want to understand here, but it would certainly be the case that a fare number of them do.

Especially when I saw a couple of the titles within this search.
·    Using Body Language
·    Examples Of Body Language
·    How To Read Body Language

Seems everyone today wants to know more about body language. 

My question is, is body language and non-verbal communication the same thing.

Turning back to Google I found these corresponding definitions.

Non-Verbal Communication:
Act of imparting or interchanging thoughts, opinions, or information without the use of spoken words. Nonverbal communication is used in marketing research as a key variable to determine consumers' attitudes, values, and beliefs regarding a certain product or service. For example, an observer watching a focus group will pay special attention to the nonverbal cues of group interaction, such as body language, facial expressions, and eye contact, to identify group members' true feelings about an issue.
http://www.answers.com/topic/nonverbal-communication

Body Language:
The gestures, postures, and facial expressions by which a person manifests various physical, mental, or emotional states and communicates nonverbally with others.
http://www.answers.com/topic/body-language

From which I believe I would be safe to conclude that there are aspects from non-verbal communication & body language, which are certainly similar, though I think there are some distinct differences that have not necessarily been brought forward in the above definitions.

For something to involve “body language,” I’d like to suggest that the bodies involved would need to be in the same physical location.  While this can be true for non-verbal communication, I do not believe that it would have to be true.

For example, my cell phone’s caller ID tells me that a certain person is trying to contact me.  If I choose not to answer the phone for whatever reason, have I not communicated the momentary unavailability without saying a word? 

The receiver has no idea why I’m not answering; they just know they are receiving a voice mail.  If they continue to call for several days without hearing back then they may start to perceive that I am not happy with them for whatever reason.

The point here is that the lack of communication is communication in and of itself, and it is non-verbal.  The effectiveness of this approach to communicate a given message may be highly questionable, but it remains an approach none-the-less.

Less we think this limited to cell phones, it is important to point out that this same process can be seen when:
·    Emails are not returned
·    Doors are not answered
·    “To Do” lists are not completed
Any time there is a failure to communicate a communication has taken place.  Therefore, non-verbal communication does involve body language while going beyond it at the same time.