By Mark O’Neill

When the cost of bandwidth is virtually next to nothing these days, couples who find themselves apart are using Skype to recreate that “at home” feeling. It even has a name – Ambient Skype.

Basically you leave the app constantly running on your computer as background noise. Since Skype-to-Skype calls are free, it doesn’t cost you a dime (except maybe electricity to keep the computer up). You don’t have to talk to your partner all the time (who talks to one another non-stop 24/7 anyway?). Skype just stays running and if the webcam is on, you can drop off to sleep together, listening to one another breathing, snoring, talking in their sleep, farting… just like a real “together” couple!

As I said, this would be good if couples found themselves apart due to business trips but it would also be good for long distance relationships or families who are scattered across the globe for one reason or another. As well as dropping off to sleep together, you can also leave Skype on to listen to your kids screaming their heads off in the background or generally listen to comforting sounds of home. Anything to avoid those pangs of homesickness.

Photo courtesy of Roo Reynolds – re-published under a Creative Commons License.