Tech recommendations for how to stay connected with family?
November 7, 2022 10:18 AM Subscribe
What new technology is out that that can help my family stay connected, and how has your family built new habits around staying in touch with people who are far away or isolating?
Between covid, politics, and the "new normal," the number of "lazy afternoons spent with extended family" has gone from around twenty per year to ... two. I want to get a holiday gift for multiple households in my family that will let us stay connected in a new way.
Because there are both very young and very old relatives I'd like to connect with, I am hoping for something that is either very simple or has fantastic support. Of course it would be ideal to get the entire network on the same platform, but if there are kid-specific or elder-specific tech you use, please let me know!
How do always-on "portals" compare to using a laptop for video calls?
Are there devices that would let us play board games and cards together?
Are there "robots" that an adult in one location could use to interact with a kid in a different location?
How do you decide whether to get a device, or to run an app on your phone?
A note about MeFiGiftGuide2022: These next two weeks, we are collecting questions on ask.metafilter.com that help people find fantastic holiday gifts that show love for friend, family, nature, and our global community. These questions, tagged with #MeFiGiftGuide2022, will be collected into an FPP on Nov 24, the night before Black Friday, to spread our community’s love and wisdom across the universe (or at least to the hearts of our future MeFi members).
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Between covid, politics, and the "new normal," the number of "lazy afternoons spent with extended family" has gone from around twenty per year to ... two. I want to get a holiday gift for multiple households in my family that will let us stay connected in a new way.
Because there are both very young and very old relatives I'd like to connect with, I am hoping for something that is either very simple or has fantastic support. Of course it would be ideal to get the entire network on the same platform, but if there are kid-specific or elder-specific tech you use, please let me know!
How do always-on "portals" compare to using a laptop for video calls?
Are there devices that would let us play board games and cards together?
Are there "robots" that an adult in one location could use to interact with a kid in a different location?
How do you decide whether to get a device, or to run an app on your phone?
A note about MeFiGiftGuide2022: These next two weeks, we are collecting questions on ask.metafilter.com that help people find fantastic holiday gifts that show love for friend, family, nature, and our global community. These questions, tagged with #MeFiGiftGuide2022, will be collected into an FPP on Nov 24, the night before Black Friday, to spread our community’s love and wisdom across the universe (or at least to the hearts of our future MeFi members).
If you’re new to MetaFilter, why don’t you join? It’s $5 for a lifetime membership, and that $5 is mostly to keep the spammers out. If you end up buying something based on what you read, why not donate to MetaFilter as part of our November Fundraiser Drive.
We tried to do a mass Zoom call, Christmas before last, and the experiences seemed to be all over the map. I am not sure whether that was due to the varying device people used, or their experience level -- but the latter factor should dictate the platform you use.
If you can keep the number of endpoints down, then I would think that FaceTime on iPads/iPhones/Mac computers works pretty well. We do FaceTime calls with my kids away at college, and it works great. My mother-in-law does well with FaceTime, though my own parents have not had good luck with any technology.
If you want to play games, the big difference is physical games (via a second camera?) or electronic games. Not sure there are great choices there that are flexible, though I believe that some games have group play within the game itself.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:27 AM on November 7, 2022
If you can keep the number of endpoints down, then I would think that FaceTime on iPads/iPhones/Mac computers works pretty well. We do FaceTime calls with my kids away at college, and it works great. My mother-in-law does well with FaceTime, though my own parents have not had good luck with any technology.
If you want to play games, the big difference is physical games (via a second camera?) or electronic games. Not sure there are great choices there that are flexible, though I believe that some games have group play within the game itself.
posted by wenestvedt at 11:27 AM on November 7, 2022
A friend swears by the Facebook Portal to stay in touch with her (multi generational) extended family.
posted by oceano at 4:45 PM on November 7, 2022
posted by oceano at 4:45 PM on November 7, 2022
Facebook portal is a very good non techy way. The camera is best in class and the way it follows people around the room is amazing. The audio is top notch and the UI is crap but so is all UI for this sort of thing. I love my portal.
posted by Vroom_Vroom_Vroom at 12:38 AM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Vroom_Vroom_Vroom at 12:38 AM on December 5, 2022 [1 favorite]
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