IL Postcard

Technology Helps Save Bad Son

Date: 01/29/2008

Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2008
Waterford, Ireland

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It’s hard to be a good son when you live abroad.

You can’t come over every Sunday for pot roast. You can’t shovel the sidewalk or offer to drive to the store when it’s snowing. Sometimes you can’t even get through on the telephone just to chat.

My mom isn’t the type to say, “You never call.” But I never call. In that respect I was a Bad Son even before I moved offshore…and now, with the flips, twists, and expense of making an international phone call from various places around the world, my communication ranking has hit an all-time low.

But my redemption is nigh, at least in the phone call department, thanks to Skype.

Mom isn’t a technophile, but she knows how to work her new MacBook…kind of…and she can definitely use her e-mail. Every now and then, if I’ve been an especially Bad Son, I’ll find a pointed note from her in my inbox wondering if she should call the U.S. Embassy to see if I’m still alive. This is a hollow threat since she rarely knows what country I’m in at any given time, but it gets her point across.

During one of those recent e-mail exchanges, I suggested she get Skype…a free instant-messaging service that also offers free Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone calls between subscribers…even free video calls if you have the right equipment.

(I didn’t try to explain that VoIP is just a phone call that can be carried over an Internet connection…one step at a time with mom and technology.)

Mom, I wrote, our laptops can be our telephones. Your computer has built-in speakers and a built-in microphone, so you won’t even need a headset. And the calls won’t cost a cent.

At first, mom was leery. It sounded way too technical, she replied. But I’ve been using Skype for two years, I assured her, and it’s the greatest thing since home-delivery pizza. It’s easy to use, no gimmicks, and absolutely free. Get Marci to help you download it and set it up, I wrote, and we’ll be calling each other in minutes. (Marci is my sister, who is as Good a Daughter as I am a Bad Son.)

Well, much to my surprise, it happened. Last week Marci drove over to mom’s house (in the snow, of course, and probably with a load of groceries including a pot roast), and they went to the Skype website and downloaded the free software.

An hour later, as I’m working at my computer, my Skype Incoming Call menu rings. When I click the Answer button, I’m talking to my mother…from Vermillion, S.D., to Waterford, Ireland…in real time…for free.

Not only that, but since my mom and I both have MacBooks with built-in video cameras, my computer screen was filled with her smiling face, and hers with mine. (Skype works equally well with PCs, by the way.) There is an unavoidable delay in a signal that has to travel that far (even between mother and son) so the video feed was a little choppy, and it was hard to match up her image with her voice…but there she was. She looked great. She said I looked great, too, but she would say that.

My dear old mom on the video phone…just like the eggheads and science-fiction writers have been telling us would happen for decades now. It’s great technology, but even great technology doesn’t mean much to a son and his mother unless they’re both able to use it. Fortunately, Skype fits the bill.

Thanks to Skype, I can travel my globetrotting path with a lighter load now that I can leave my communication guilt out of the baggage. And my mom doesn’t have to threaten to call the embassy to get me to pick up the phone. And if one of us is having a bad-hair day, we can turn off the video camera and just chat…for free…like mother and son.

No…like mother and Good Son.

Dan Prescher
Publisher, International Living

Editor’s note: It’s quite common for mothers to be concerned about their gallivanting children…whatever their age. If you plan to make 2008 the year you escape to Paradise, don’t let communication become an issue. Lee Harrison will be speaking about staying connected overseas at the Ultimate Event in Cancun, Mexico, May 28–31. To take advantage of the early bird discount, register now.