Skype To The World

December 22, 2007

For those of you living under a rock, one of the most poplar and widely utilized forms of communication for the wayward traveler is Skype, a peer to peer application that allows users, for free, to communicate via the internet with one another.

Consider it the modern day phone. Recent advances have allowed for video capabilities as well. Anyone with a built in microphone and camera in their computer (which is just about any new laptop or desktop) can seamlessly communicate with anyone else.

There’s something bizarre about the whole process. I originally got Skype during my first year of university, on advice from my mom, to keep in touch with family and friends. There was something about yelling at your computer (Alas, when I got it the software wasn’t quite up to the standards that it is now) that didn’t sit well with me. Instead, I opt for the archaic phone/phone card method. Call me a caveman.

Now, with the video capabilities Skype has entered a realm that phones, at least now, are a long way off of. Video phones may be a thing of the future, but Skype is now. The video quality is astounding as well, like watching a DVD. Skype has, unabashedly, destroyed time and space.

I recently had a friend from Colombia visit and during her stay she called her family in there, a family that I haven’t seen in years. If the voice thing was odd enough for me, seeing their faces, crystal clear in front of me, was almost too much. Something about it irks me– granted it’s the most effective (and did I mention free?!) way to communicate, it seems to ruin something of the romanticism of travel.

I suppose being able to talk to, and see, anyone at anytime is a good thing. I suppose it’s the inevitable end to our ever increasing technological capabilities; but when does it become too much? What is the line between escapism and longing and ease of communication?

One of my favorite things about being away from home and loved ones for a long time, after weeks or months or not seeing those people is that it makes the homecoming that much sweeter. But now, when you can not only talk, but see and feel like you’re in the same room as those very same people– the whole experience is, I’ll blatantly admit– cheapened.