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Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?

In my professional life, I am a big fan of Facebook, Twitter, blogs, the iPhone, the iPad and any other new tool they invent to make the art of business communication easier and more exciting. In my personal life, I believe there are too many distractions that take our focus away from truly connecting with those we love, so I actively spend energy removing those from family time.

Oh, yes. I am THAT mom – the one who bans all electronic devices from the dinner table. The TV must be turned off, cell phones must be put away and the Nintendo DS must be sufficiently out of reach. I don’t want my child listening to her iPod while I try to have a conversation with her about school. Too often I see couples at restaurants, busily texting without taking even a moment to glance at each other. So far, I have resisted the urge to grab their cell phones, throw them to the ground and smash them with my foot (although I’d like to believe these couples would thank me later for singlehandedly saving their relationship). I think you get my point. Technology, I’ve always thought, is pushing us farther apart.

Then I was introduced to Skype.

Let me give you a little background on this newfound love affair of mine. I am a new auntie of three babies born in the past two months – twin nephews and a niece – all of whom live far away. Before the magic of Skype, I would call nearly every day to check on the babies and get an update. I would beg for new pictures, and I would convince my sisters to hold the phone to the babies’ mouths so I could hear their voices. Then, Santa brought Web cams for Christmas, and my sister told me to get a Skype account.

Skype is a service that allows you to make free video and voice calls through your computer, and with more than 500 million users, it is quickly becoming a global phenomenon. From my perspective, it is building closer families and quite possibly saving the human race.

Maybe I’m exaggerating, but all I know is the first time I sat down to Skype, I almost burst into tears. There, in my living room, on my computer screen, were my two new nephews who I had never met. I could see their facial expressions and hear the way they cried. I could practically smell them (not really, but I’m sure that’s coming). Now, we Skype once a week and I get to watch them grow. My girls can show grandpa the gaping holes in their mouths when they lose a tooth, demonstrate the new hip hop moves they learned in dance class or hold up a stellar report card for Aunt Lindsay to see. It’s brilliant.

I still ban all electronic devices from the dinner table, but there might be a day when I pull the computer screen over to the table and invite grandma to join us for dinner.

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