The Skype Drink – Technology Hacks

Technology doesn’t always have to be a bane to us simple-seekers.

I learnt about a new phenomena this week, called the Skype drink. I doubt you’ll have heard of it because I’ve borrowed the expression from a friend who might be unique in his adoption of this adaptation

It entails setting up a time to have a drink with a friend who is a long way away and instead of doing it in a pub or bar – having that drink on Skype. He sits there with good friends sipping on a beer or cup of tea and sets time to have a chat, regardless of the usual ‘get the conversation done’ attitude that Skype can promote.

I love it when we break with the norm and use technology, or habits, in ways that help us rather than hinder us.

Rather than ‘like’ a friend’s post, or forward an email, here are a few things I like to do:

• Write a note to a friend who I haven’t spoken to in a while, or have been thinking of to say ‘I love and miss you’. Perhaps followed by an encouragement that the person doesn’t have to respond
• Ring someone for absolutely no reason at all
• Write a postcard, even if I’m at home. There’s one friend (you know who you are), to whom I always send postcards that come from one place and then send them from another. i.e. pick up a postcard in Prague and then write it and get a friend to send it when she heads out to Beijing. Quirky, but fun!
• Make a mix CD and send it, the days of mix tapes are gone, but the love of them aint. The reason why I have a house in Kenya is probably because I once sent a mix CD out to a new friend out there and that’s when she realised we were buddies.
• Using an iPad as a table tennis bat*
• Set up a reminder on your computer not to use your computer any more