Skype?

[steuard]

My mother really, really loves Skype. That's really caught me off guard, because for some reason I've never been very excited by it. So I want to know: do any of you folks use Skype regularly? And can anyone suggest why I might be more hesitant about Skype than I generally am about nifty-sounding new technologies? ('Cause thus far, I haven't come up with any plausible explanation.)

My mother has good reason to like Skype: it was a cheap way to keep in touch with my sister when she was studying abroad in Sweden (and she still uses it to talk with some European friends), and she adores having video conversations with her recent step-grandchild on the East Coast.

Meanwhile, I've used Skype exactly once (to talk to my mother, not coincidentally). It seems like a perfectly serviceable video phone program, which I always thought was one of those pieces of The Future that I was eager to see... so why am I resisting it instead of embracing it? I'll admit to feeling a bit confused (and therefore wary) about their business model, but I'm much less resistant to using instant messaging programs despite similar issues. I'm also reluctant to video chat when I'm "not presentable": on a normal phone, nobody knows that you're still in your pajamas. But that doesn't explain why I'm still not excited about it the rest of the time.

I suspect that (for example) Kim and I would have loved Skype when we were living far apart after college: seeing each others' faces more often would have been wonderful. So why haven't I leapt at the chance to have that same extra closeness with family and friends today?

Comments

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Skype was fantastic for international travel -- With video I could see friends back in the US when I was feeling lonely, and I could give them tours of faraway places by walking around with the laptop.

[steuard.livejournal.com]

So, do you still use it today? With whom, or why not?

[nasu-dengaku.livejournal.com]

Now that I'm back in the same country as the majority of my friends, I use it a lot less. Domestic use has included

- Talking to friends out of the country
- Cheap videoconferencing for work related purposes
- Calling my cellphone when I can't tell where in the house I've left it :-)

[ricevermicelli.livejournal.com]

I had a boss who was big into Skype for a while, and I have also used it to make phone calls from foreign countries, but I don't use it now, even though I can imagine uses for it that would be kind of fun.

A lot of that has to do with the way I use the phone with the people i talk to most. I call danceboy a few times a day to check in, and trade information about the kids or the car or the house or the shopping list. "Hey, how's it going, I'm at lunch, did I mention we need formula?" isn't an interaction that's going to be enhanced by video. Much of my conversation with my sisters is conducted while I commute, while graceo waits in the parent pickup line at the elementary school, and while walks her dog. When I talk to these people while at home, I'm generally occupied with something else while I do - I'm washing dishes, or putting away laundry, or sending out resumes. So are they. Skyping would require me to sit down, in more or less one place, and make talking to them my sole activity. And while that sounds sweet, we're using the phone as a replacement for more casual connections, to have the same conversations that we have always had while washing dishes, putting away laundry, waiting in lines, and walking the dog.

I also like the privacy of the phone held to my ear. If I'm having a conversation via Skype, I am having a conversation with the person on the other end, and also with my husband and my kids and whoever else wanders through on the other side. If I use the phone, it's just us two. No preschoolers jumping up and down, yelling each other's names, and demonstrating how you have a wiggle party. That's a luxury I really appreciate.

[pearmeson.livejournal.com]

Skype has become the only way to talk to Galen's grandparents -- he already knows their faces and voices despite only actually meeting them when he was a month old. And we can pick up the laptop and follow him around the room, so they can see him exploring. It's actually pretty cool for that.

I also use it with my advisor, who I only visit every few months.

Other than that, I don't use it much.

[nemene.livejournal.com]

at my new job we use it constently it is our primary way to talk to our offshore developers. Also we use it either phone or IM to communicate with eachother domestically.

[kirin]

I'd actually forgotten that Skype did video too; I don't have a webcam set up with my current home computer, so I've only used it for voice, and that only a few times. I first set it up the last time Conni was in Germany for a month, because getting cell calls was expensive or a hassle; it was okay though the sounds quality wasn't great. Only other time I've used it was for a conference call for a podcast I got invited onto.

Generally I find little reason to use it when I have more rollover minutes than I ever use on my cell plan (and, like I said, no webcam). I guess technically my new phone can do video calls too, though I think it only works if I"m calling another iPhone... not sure if there's any way to bridge it to a less-closed system. Probably not without jailbreaking, anyway.

[feuervogel]

I believe you can install skype on the iPhone. Guy I knew in Berlin did.

[kirin]

Hmm, you can but it looks like it's voice only, no video. Though I found something called fring that does video and claims to be available on almost all smartphones.