I’ve noticed that Skype has changed the way my household communicates with the rest of our family. Even though we still have PSTN access to each other, we very rarely use it. We’ve become reluctant to interrupt each other without some form of presence indicator telling us it’s OK. If someone is online, they’re not depooing babies or watching a movie. We talk for much longer, but in a more relaxed way. The PC in our living/dining area has speakers and a webcam – we don’t use headsets. My wife can chat to both her parents at once, not serially. It doesn’t feel like a phone call when your family are chatting with you while you make dinner. When my parents were over in Kansas City, we were sat around the dinner table chomping away, nattering with my brother in London. The whole anxiety that you need to say something meaningful to justify the payment of money to a phone company evaporates.

most telephone conversations that extend one minute have been asynchronous, we just haven’t admitted it in the past. (doodles anyone?) a shared understanding that attention varies and the elimination of technical limits to voice communication patterns move “telephone” conversations towards ambient virtual co-presence. this is exciting because it brings down the wall between virtual and real another tiny bit.

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