Southern Indiana Business March-April 2020 | Page 7

chatting over the telephone.
Video conferencing has played a
large role in my adult life overall.
My wife and I met while studying
abroad. To carry on the relationship
past a semester in Europe, it would
have to be over long distance.
Without Skype, I sincerely doubt
we ever would have married. (If
you asked my better half, she’d say
absolutely not.) But having a way
to see each other smoothed over the
bumpiness between actual visits.
Then there is my career in
writing. While I have spent my fair
share of time in an office, most of
my professional experience has been
done remotely. I’ve interviewed
and had meetings over video
conferencing. I’ve met co-workers
over Skype and Google Hangouts.
It’s opened up new pathways.
That’s the beauty of
communicative technology:
creating avenues to come together
that wouldn’t have been possible
decades ago. This has helped
tremendously during a tumultuous
period of time for my immediate
family. Nothing beats access to
actually seeing the ones you love.
Undoubtedly this is a double-
edged sword. The warnings are all
around us, and vigilance is definitely
required in regard to children with
social media. But I figure you hear
about that all the time. I thought you
might want to hear about the silver
lining. I sure need to find the bright
spot in the middle of a storm.
— Evan Campbell is a freelance
writer who covers video games,
movies, TV shows and tech. He’s also
a former copy editor at the News and
Tribune.
March / April 2020
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