Love It: Video Chatting

Some technological breakthroughs affect our lives more than others. The Tamagotchi, while endlessly entertaining, did not rock my world. Toilet sensors, on the other hand, did. Electric fireplaces? Absolutely. The Nike/iPod music-playing, run-pacing shoe device? Not so much. But above and beyond these modern advancements, the video chat holds a special place in my heart.

I’m not talking about the drawn-out process of arranging a precise time to meet at the computer to catch up on weeks of activity. I’m talking about the casual hello. The quickie. The in-and-out, sometimes lasting just seconds. Soon everyone will have a laptop with a built-in camera, meaning my Gchat bar will be full of video icons and no more of those outdated dots.

And who doesn’t like to check themselves out? Let’s be real. You have the big box with your brother/lover/Thai pen pal/parole officer, but then you have that smaller box in the upper corner with your own face—the best of both worlds. Depending on how stimulating the conversation is (a steamy striptease versus pretending to care about someone else’s problems), you can always just admire your digital image staring back at you. And even if said person catches you catching a vainglorious glimpse, chances are he/she was doing the same thing moments earlier.

Technology has brought us full circle: from actually talking in person, to writing letters, to talking on the phone, to writing e-mails, to, once again, speaking face-to-face, whether from opposite ends of the globe or from opposite ends of the classroom. Vid chat is the closest thing to the real thing. No more of this abbreviating bullshit: “heyyyy.” “sup?” “nm, u?” “brb.” “k.” Those days are, thankfully, coming to an end. Give your fingers a rest. Cut the middleman.

Unless you’re ugly, in which case typing is just fine.