Video calling technology has become an integral part of our modern communications landscape. This applies equally to both personal person-to-person interaction and also the communication needs of major corporate, business, and government organizations.
For all of these varied distributed groups, the technology of video calling and the technical capacities that led up to its explosive growth have been an enormous benefit in their ability to make life easier, more convenient, and much more connected than it has ever been in all of human history. This, beyond anything else, is why video calling is becoming such an integral and sometimes subtly constant part of so many people’s daily life.
That said, let’s cover some concrete examples that how us just how important video technology has become day to day.
Long Distance Classes
There is a whole online and even offline industry forming around the ability that teachers or instructors have to communicate with their students in a fully interactive way without the need to be in the same room. This is being seen in the form of thousands of online teaching and tutoring programs and courses while also demonstrating itself through numerous distance education and tele-classroom programs that a lot of major universities are opening up around the world.
All of this is distinctly possible thanks to video calling technology and its constantly developing tendency towards cheapness, easy accessibility, and shrinking hardware requirements. In fact, many online course instructors are easily capable of setting up a fully functional online classroom through the use of nothing more than a website, a package of web-based video conferencing software, and access to a computer with internet connectivity on the part of their students. Also, many online colleges that offer laptops list it for students who need them to access online classrooms.
Furthermore, many post-secondary schools, such as the University of Hawaii and Duke University are setting up or have already established their own video classroom systems that allow students to attend classes remotely as they are being given in an auditorium dozens or even hundreds of miles away.
The De-localization of Business and Work
Another major area of growth in video calling has been where it comes into contact with the world of the digital business and online work environment.
In this case, what we’re seeing happen on a global scale is an increasing trend towards using video technology as an integral part of daily business communications over large distances. Even more importantly, this very same technology is actually leading to a restructuring of how many small new companies are being set up; in many cases, instead of going for a physical office where all of the business partners meet and collaborate, the founders simply maintain contact and partnerships long distance thanks to conferencing software and its associated data sharing ability. What also helps them along when it comes to project management is the use of cloud computing services that make work sharing easier than ever.
Additionally, hiring remote employees is now becoming much easier than ever thanks to these same technologies, and many entrepreneurs are foregoing the classic in-house employee model in favor of off-site freelancers that can be talked to at any time through interactive video.
Connecting Family and Friends through Social Applications
Finally we get down to the most obvious and commonly used application of video calling technology; its social connection utility.
As more and more people –students, workers and vacation travelers-start moving around the globe for their diverse, mixed reasons, they still need to stay in touch with their loved ones and friends back home. This is where video calling comes into play as an enormously powerful tool for sentimental and friendly contact.
Furthermore, now that social media means never having to lose touch with any friend ever again so long as you both have web access, the integration of video technology into social networks is making interactive calling even more popular; letting millions of friends, couples, families and new acquaintances see each other as they speak regardless of how far away they are from one another.
About the author: Stephan Jukic is a freelance writer who generally covers a variety of subjects relating to the latest changes in white hat SEO, mobile technology, marketing tech, and digital security. He also loves to read and write about location-free business, portable business management and finance. When not busy writing or consulting on technology and digital security, he spends his days enjoying life’s adventures either in Canada or Mexico, where he spends part of the year.