Skype is weird. I've said it before and I'll say it again.
This week's blog is part reprint of an earlier complaint, part continuing rant against virtual "face time," part frustration because I did not have a new and fascinating post ready in time this week having spent days fixing computer glitches, thus the slightly re-edited skype post. But the idea is relevant, more than ever!
In addition, the very word has become the same kind of word that "fridge" once did, way back when during the heyday of Frigidaire products when they first replaced ice boxes. I mean, does anyone still even use "Skype" or has google taken over that world too? Should we call it "Googype??"
Yes, Skype is still weird, small or capitalized, in color or black and white and of course Google Hangout is not much better. Let’s face it- you’re not really hanging out. . . .
This week's blog is part reprint of an earlier complaint, part continuing rant against virtual "face time," part frustration because I did not have a new and fascinating post ready in time this week having spent days fixing computer glitches, thus the slightly re-edited skype post. But the idea is relevant, more than ever!
In addition, the very word has become the same kind of word that "fridge" once did, way back when during the heyday of Frigidaire products when they first replaced ice boxes. I mean, does anyone still even use "Skype" or has google taken over that world too? Should we call it "Googype??"
Yes, Skype is still weird, small or capitalized, in color or black and white and of course Google Hangout is not much better. Let’s face it- you’re not really hanging out. . . .
Two dimensional encounters devoid of real, human contact amid a screen of wavy lines, where the
distraction of myriad pixels interferes with the actual talking and being- the human sharing connection- is weird; and this is to say nothing of frozen frames inter-dispersed with moving
portraits held hostage to flat, staccato, marionette style images and movements that do not
create an environment of intimacy or communication, meaningful or otherwise.
Occasionally the sound goes out and we have to resort to screens and phones, like something from an old Flash Gordon movies.
Oh yes, you can display things and objects, like haircuts, toys, pets and funny faces as well as living arrangements- kind of like show and tell- but it really doesn’t fly, does it? Group video fests are even more chaotic and incomprehensible, with everyone screaming at each other and the screen simultaneously.
Occasionally the sound goes out and we have to resort to screens and phones, like something from an old Flash Gordon movies.
Oh yes, you can display things and objects, like haircuts, toys, pets and funny faces as well as living arrangements- kind of like show and tell- but it really doesn’t fly, does it? Group video fests are even more chaotic and incomprehensible, with everyone screaming at each other and the screen simultaneously.
Virtual in actuality means “almost” or “not quite.” The
brave new world may long have been both with us and upon us, but the “picture phones” of early sci-fi
dreams from days of yore (when people still used the entire name "Frigidaire" to signify an electrically powered ice box) now function in the age of the internet as primitive, almost stone age devices. I picture earthlings of decades and
centuries hence looking at the old footage and roaring.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: skype is weird.
That's all. Just needed to say that.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: skype is weird.
That's all. Just needed to say that.
