Skyping

Little by little we are becoming more entrenched in technology. Although not nearly as electronically fluent as our kids, we have, nevertheless, toddled into the twenty-first century in a few ways. Our latest venture is with Skype, a free video conferencing system available over internet.

Mom has had more success with the speaker feature of our latest wireless phones than ever before, but I hoped that video calling would work even better. My goal was for her to have an easier time conversing with family because she would be able to see faces and read lips. Indeed, the back and forth dialog goes more smoothly because Mom can see when the other person is beginning to speak so that she doesn’t try to talk at the same time and she can understand them better because of being able to read lips as well as hear them speak. The added bonus has been that she can now also enjoy the great grandkids more now too. Whenever they wander into the room, they will stop in front of the webcam and wave and say something to her and she can respond back easily. It is so much more natural and carefree than being told to “say something” on the phone. It makes me realize that exchanging smiles can be much more valuable than exchanging mere words. The whole essence of each person comes through so much better when we can experience body language and facial expressions.

Of course, as with anything else, there are some difficulties. Mom’s biggest concern was how she looked. “Oh! They can SEE me? But, I don’t have any makeup on yet!” she protested the first time. That can be a drawback alright. It won’t do to accept a video call in your underwear, although Mom gave Coletta quite a start once by appearing with a mud mask still on her face. It certainly was worth a good laugh, and we can always use more of those. I think Skype is here to stay.