Ben Affleck hit the nail on the head when he publicly thanked his wife acknowledging that relationships are hard work when accepting his Oscar earlier this month: “It’s good. It is work, but it’s the best kind of work. And there’s no one I’d rather work with.” For those of us that have been through long-distance relationships, we know that they take the work and commitment of a regular relationship, magnified by the miscommunications and misunderstandings of not being physically present.

Reading Screenhero user Jaime’s story, we were reminded of the small things people in relationships can do to make every day meaningful. Jaime and his girlfriend Catherine have been in a long distance relationship for 8 years – he’s in NYC, and she’s in Hawaii. They see each other on short breaks and are always looking for ways to keep their relationship strong and healthy. Jaime describes the challenges of the relationship: “I get to see her when she is on breaks from medical school, when I either fly out there, or she comes to visit me in New York. It’s not an easy life - I’d say the basis of any relationship is in sharing experiences.”

That’s a great way to sum up our vision of Screenhero – enabling shared experiences. Screen sharing has traditionally been a work tool, and it may sound bizarre that we’re talking about healthy long distance relationships – but Jaime’s story really got us thinking. At Screenhero, we believe that the desktop is going to become social and sharing your desktop experience will be something people do as casually as writing an email.

Jaime talks about sharing a movie watching experience with Screenhero: “As it happens, we were discussing the Oscars a few weeks ago, and really regretted the fact that we both hadn’t seen some of the movies nominated this year, and that we wouldn’t be able to see them together. When a copy of Silver Linings Playbook found its way into my hands (I’m friends with a few Oscar voters), we decided it would be a good time to figure out how to share things on the computer. We downloaded Screenhero and watched the movie.”

Watching a movie together online isn’t a concept we’re used to, yet. Like any other shared experience, however, it can be very powerful when an experience that has traditionally been disconnected becomes shared in real-time.

Jaime describes the impact of Screenhero: “The movie was, of course, fantastic, and the romance was beautiful, and we were thrilled to share the movie together. It’s silly, but when we don’t get to see each other often, it was a surprising comfort to see her moving the mouse. Really great stuff.”

Screenhero allowed them to share an intimate moment, which is particularly rare amongst people who are so far apart. We’re really proud that Screenhero played a part in making Jaime feel like he was just a little bit closer to his girlfriend.