mom-friendly tech: beam me up, scotty

I remember as a kid being so excited when our family owned our first television. I was about 6 years old. (Ok, pause. This is not a reflection of my age people… just a by-product of the fact that I spent the first few years of my life on a hippy commune and a sailboat. So that means no wise-cracks please!) But yeah, that first television…

It was black-and-white with big round dials (think early 80s) and after much finagling my dad was able to get the Oregon Public Broadcasting channel coming through loud and clear. (Come to think of it, it was probably just loud.... and not so clear.) I vividly remember getting to watch Sesame Street and Mister Rogers Neighborhood. Ah, the wonders of modern technology!

Flash forward 26 years. I now live in Australia, separated from my family by the vast Pacific Ocean, and yet I’m only a Skype call away from seeing and hearing my loved ones in near life-size, real-time video calling technology.

Oh how I love being connected!

Skype has to be one of the greatest inventions of all time. As hard as it is to know that my kids and their grandparents (GiGi & Gramps) live on opposite ends of the planet, I’m so thankful that they can grow up knowing each other through more than once-a-year visits and birthday cards.

And the best part about Skype? The picture is even clearer than that first television set my dad brought home. Amazing. Oh yeah, and the other best part? It’s free. That’s $1800 more free than a trans-Pacific plane ticket.

The only thing better is when we’ll be able to beam up a hologram image over the internet and have GiGi siting in our living room with us. Jetsons watch out…