Social Interactions through Virtual Platforms

I live about 2.5 hours away from my parents and sisters, so my sisters and I will Facetime each other if we aren’t able to visit for a while. It’s nice to be able to “see” them even though we aren't with each other. As noted in our text, “seeing each other on the screen enables more intimacy and connectedness” (Rogers, Sharp, & Preece, 2012). I like that I can see little changes in them I might miss if we were just talking on the phone between visits. A lot of times my youngest sister likes to tell me about everything going on around her and it makes it easier for her to show me what all she is talking about. It’s like being there in the middle of everything going on even though I’m not and I really appreciate being able to have that experience thanks to technology.

The biggest downside to Facetiming is the lag, which is playback that is moving more slowly than usual (Cambridge Dictionary, n.d.), I experience living in a rural area with slower than normal internet speeds available. Using it with my phone data only uses up a lot of data. I did take the plunge and decide to upgrade to the unlimited data plan with my carrier, but if I am in an area with spotty service I might as well forget about using Facetime.

I have grown accustom to video chatting, but when I first started it would cause me anxiety because I felt like I had to be “on” for the camera. Now I just Facetime and don’t worry about trying to look perfect or avoiding unflattering angle. I know that being able to see my family is worth so much more than my vanity.

The biggest improvement that needs to be made is the streaming quality, but that falls on the service provider. Where I live I am limited to DSL internet service. While DSL can be very fast, I can only get 1.5 megabytes/second with my provider. While I can Facetime, the picture is grainy. I’ll take it to be able to see my family, but I would love to see them more clearly.

Reflections

I continue to be amazed at the technological advances made to allow for social interactions without being in the same room. Virtual platforms are a great tool to give the feel of closeness even when we can't be together.

References

Cambridge Dictionary. (n.d.). Lag. Retrieved from Cambridge Dictionary: https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/lag#dataset-cbed

Rogers, Y., Sharp, H., & Preece, J. (2012). Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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