Grandparents Using Skype to Keep Up with Family

In an interesting illustration of how technology is used to bring families together and keep people who may be geographically separate together in communication, the Kansas City Star published an article about how technology is embraced as a means for family cohesiveness.

The article mostly focuses on how the venerable are using technology to being more social, but I really like the idea of using Skype (an online telephone and video chat technology) to stay in touch. I’ve liked Skype for some time now, and have used it in a number of situations. I think that this use is the higher calling that this sort of tech has been crying out for from day one.

I also like that the article calls out caution in the use of Facebook. While hardly a luddite, I’ve had some significant concerns about Facebook and their ability to be too blithe about their users’ privacy. As a tool for connecting to lost and distant friends, I have to agree that Facebook is a great resource. But with the ability to over-share and the propensity for something that you might have thought private to be easily disseminated to Facebook’s “partners,” I still feel that caution is in order.

In all, it’s an interesting article about how Baby Boomers are readily adopting technology and, more importantly, implementing it in service of what is vital to them: their families and friends.

Grandma rocking the headphones photo courtesy of Flickr user theterrifictc.