Dreading that family holiday visit? Let’s just keep it virtual instead
Family dramas wearing you down this holiday season?
Judging by the squabbles in nearly every family we know, or a casual read through Dear Abby, we bet your blue feelings are universal.
Sure enough, a new survey of 3,000 people from the tech and gifts review website, GearHungry.com, found that Floridians are only willing to travel a max of 3 1/2 hours to visit their families this Christmas.
(That’s just a bit under the average drive time from Miami to Orlando along Florida’s Turnpike, Google Maps estimates. So figure on whether sitting at the table with Aunt Margaret in two weeks is as pleasurable as a pricey visit to Mickey Mouse when weighing your holiday plans.)
And almost half of these Florida respondents — 45% —said they’d be engaging in a “virtual Christmas” by Skype sessions with family members rather than facing them in person, an “increasing trend,” the company said..
Virtual options to connect on Christmas
Thinking of going this virtual route from the comfort of your own home?
Go for it, but don’t blame us if Mom steams over not being able to pinch your rosy red cheeks in person.
Here are some virtual video call apps that you can use on your iPhone and Android smart phones and, in most cases, laptop or desktop to connect with family on Christmas, or any other day.
If a group of students from the Mandelstam School in South Miami could connect with Serena Auñon-Chancellor, the first Cuban-American astronaut in space, via Skype, as they did last December, you can certainly reach Grandma in Gainesville.
Some of these apps you probably know and already use, like Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp, that let you call and share photos and video and conversations.
Others — like Viber, which allows users to make free calls, send texts, pictures and video messages to other Viber users, and WeChat, a Chinese messaging, social media and mobile payment app — let you call and share photos and video and conversation, may be new to you.
FaceTime is an Apple iOS feature on the iPhone, iPad and Mac. You have to have an Apple ID and password to use FaceTime.
▪ Hangouts on Google
Arguing over whose family to visit
According to the survey, a quarter of Florida couples said they had argued with each other over whose side of the family they will visit on Christmas.
Singles especially find it stigmatizing to be alone at Christmas (65%) as opposed to facing a birthday alone (24%) or New Year’s (6%) or Thanksgiving (5%), according to the survey.
Maybe that’s why 83% of the Florida respondents said they’d invite a neighbor in similar circumstances into their home to spend Christmas together rather than both facing it alone in front of the telly watching Dolly Parton’s new family series on Netflix, “Heartstrings.”
