Skype
MediaSnackers youth contributor Jess discusses Skype.
(WORLD) Communication is vital for everyone, but more so it seems for teenagers, with nothing better to do than talk to each other for hours on end after they’ve seen their friends for 6 or so hours at school! Communicating with friends has been made all the more easier through the use of a new(ish) invention called Skype. Skype allows Internet users to talk to each other through microphone, totally free of charge for an unlimited time. There has recently been a big inflow from my friends, asking if I have Skype, so I can talk to them through these means.
VOIP (voice over internet protocol) is perhaps the future of communication. Does this spell the end of the telephone? Even years ago, when mobile technology started to become more popular, many people chose to use landlines, but with the introduction of talking over the Internet, could this be on the way out? Even more so now, as nearly everybody in the UK has Internet access.
It is easy to use, one of the inconveniences is that I had to get my headphones and microphone and put them on everytime I wanted to use it. Sometimes the connection is terrible, so you have to try many times. The sound is clear, so it could perhaps replace telephones in the future. You don’t feel you are talking to someone over the computer, you feel you are talking to someone over the phone! Another inconvenience is that it is not cordless, meaning I can’t fetch files.—My dad (age undisclosed!)
It’s brilliant, but I don’t like the idea that people can just add you (there is an option to turn this off). You need a really good Internet connection, as wireless connections leaves jumps and stutters. However, the quality can be brilliant though; it may just replace the telephone because it’s free between users and cheap to landlines etc. You can call users in America and other countries for free (if they are users, obviously) but MSN offers the same type of service.—Alex, 17.
Skype is easy to use, very easy and of fair quality. It’s not amazing, but in the future I’m sure it’ll be just as good as the telephone, if not better. In the future, it wouldn’t surprise me if we all spoke over the Internet as opposed to telephones. I had an hour-long conversation with a friend in America for free and it was perfect quality.—Champagne, 18.
So it seems that people of varying ages are enjoying the uses of free communication. The Internet does seem like the way forward in terms of verbal communication. Could everything be done over the Internet now? Anything and everything is possible…
Contributed by Jess
