Web cams and Chatting

that's my niece, totally into web chatting.....wonder what technology they have in store for them when they are my age? I remember when desktop computers were "tandy's" and the idea of a laptop was still a decade away from being available....now its reality.


For the first time I have exposed myself to the web cam and video chat. I will only do so with my family and close friends, but wonder now, "why didn't I do it sooner?" It wasn't hard. In fact my grandmother went ahead and joined Skype and has been chatting it up with my mom, sisters, aunts and uncles. If she can do it....you can definitely do it. seriously.....she isn't really computer/tech savvy. I don't think she knows what a blog is....she might...but I don't think so.

For those of you who don't know, SKYPE is a free online video chat program that hooks with your computers or separate video camera to connect with others either on a similar free chat or they have other options of calling to mobile phones (for a nominal fee) Google has Google Video Chatting (from gmail to gmail accounts) and works in the same way (all free) I am sure there are more, these are the ones that I use. (you can check it out with skype.com or gmail.com there are tutorials through out the internet to troubleshoot.

There are great benefits to video chatting:

Its like you are in the same room as the person you are chatting with!
I love...LOVE....looking into the face of my sister, mom, niece and seeing their expressions as we talk. It is like being face to face.....It IS being face to face. With us being 6000 miles apart and having to wait a year or more to see each other, this allows us the ability to say, "I just saw her yesterday", "she looks good" or "man, that boo boo looks painful." The kids get to know my family and when we finally see them for real, they won't feel like strangers!

The kids love it:
My two girls were in front of the camera for 30 minutes the first time I hooked up the camera....just staring at themselves in the screen, making faces, and laughing at each other. Its better than a mirror!

Longer, more valuable conversations:
When video chatting it seems as though the conversations are less "blah". I mean, when I talk to some people we typically stay on the whats new...nothing, nice day, etc. But with video chat you can say hey! I got this new shirt "what do you think of it?" Let me try it on for you! or look at this crazy thing my kid is doing!

I can only say that there are probably times that video cams can overstep their bounds, but I haven't found it yet. Maybe because I am kind of a boring person who doesn't have much going on except the kids, hot meals, normal routines and the occasional stop at fabric store.