Brittany Mascio's Weblog

Skype continues to blow my mind. Communication has changed so much so that it is difficult to think how we used to communicate.

David has spent the last five months in Spain. Madrid’s quite a long way from Des Moines, Iowa. He has traveled most of the European world, met wonderful people and experienced a new culture all the while fitting as much studying in as possible. Well, at least that’s the convincing story he shares with his parents.

The honeymoon stage of Spain wore off a little prematurely and soon David’s family noticed his homesickness. Although he was blogging about his experiences abroad, it’s safe to say, Skype may have been his saving grace.

Conversations occurred at odd hours but David could make his way back to his home in Des Moines every week. He could talk to his parents as close to face-to-face as possible, while being miles a part. He scheduled talk times and made Skype his main form of communication.

It’s remarkable how technology allows us to communicate across borders and visually be with one another. We can bring not only our voice but our physical expressions to each other – while sitting on our respective couches miles a part.

Skype is used in the classroom for long distance students at universities across the country. Even, Oprah‘s no stranger to this technology. Check out anything newscast nowadays, someone may be Skyped in. This communications technology connects our world and advances globalization. Domestically, we can chat with one another – or utilize our experts from across the country to provide input on presentations, board meetings and specifically news reports and interviews. Internationally, technology like Skype has allowed other countries to provide a depth and greater understanding to world reports and help us to understand the world. With new technology, globalized media is capable of doing just that, more so than ever before.