342) The Virtual Date

My Airbnb host in Austin has a fiance that lives in Cambridge for grad school. I asked if that was difficult - being apart for what sounded like an indeterminate amount of time. Because to me, that sounds like a nightmare.

In his adorable French-native-speaking-English accent, he told me that it was hard, but that they found ways to be together without being together. He told me that just last week, they tried watching the same movie on Netflix at the same time, while connecting via Skype. Both were skeptical about this "virtual" movie date, but in the end, it was a lot of fun. No matter that they were individually sitting alone in their respective rooms - for a couple hours they felt like they were together (cue collective aww).

Huge duh that technology and the internet allow us to be better connected, but I love the idea of these platforms creatively packaging and positioning themselves as tools for those who can't physically be together (ex. Netflix simulcasts to linked accounts with Skype widget built in). Not just long distance gf/bfs, but also faraway friends and family.