Originally published in 2021. Updated in 2026.
When I was a kid in the 70s, my grandpa used to call on the phone and say he could see me.
“I’ve got a video phone,” he’d insist.
“No you don’t, there’s no such thing,” I’d say, every time.
He’d play along for a while before admitting the truth. Then, without fail, he’d say,
“One day there will be. You’ll see.”
He truly believed it. I always think about him now, and what a shame it is that he didn’t live to see video chat become real. He would have loved being right.
If you’re Gen X like me, you probably remember The Jetsons. It was basically The Flintstones but set in the future instead of the past. My favorite episode was the one where Jane Jetson had a scheduled video chat with three of her friends. She had just woken up, her hair and makeup a mess. In a panic, she grabbed a mask of her own face and held it in front of the camera. When the scene switches to the other women, we see that all three of them are doing the exact same thing, holding up their own face masks.
Ahh the magic of video calling.
I must have been about eight when I first saw that episode, but it stuck with me. I now think it’s funny that my grandfather’s dream of video chat would come true only for people to try and avoid using it.
Fast forward a couple of decades. I’ll admit, it took me a while to warm up to video chat too. Why? Because suddenly I was expected to brush my hair and put on makeup just to sit in my own living room. What’s next, putting on a bra under my sweatshirt?
In the tech world, I’ve been working remotely for years. More and more companies have embraced video calls, and a lot of us have found sneaky workarounds. Turning the camera off. Uploading a flattering still photo. Basically, the modern equivalent of a face mask. Every time I see a colleague’s headshot light up as they speak, I think of Jane Jetson.
Then came Covid. Living in London at the time, we were locked down for the better part of two years. Suddenly, none of us could leave the house except for a grocery run or a solo walk. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy lounging on the couch in mismatched loungewear, no makeup, and zero intention of changing that anytime soon. I had my cats, my husband, and my work as a web designer and digital marketer.
Technically, I could have gone days without speaking to anyone outside of my London apartment. But we are social creatures after all and I was ready to chat by the weekend. Instead of Friday nights at the pub, I started doing Zoom parties on the couch. I drank wine with friends from around the world. I threw on a cute top, brushed my hair, maybe added a swipe of mascara, and kept the sweatpants.
The pandemic pushed the rest of the world to embrace video technology, as the tech world had already done, faster than it probably would have otherwise. In the beginning we all left our cameras on whether or not they “added 10 pounds.” It was kind of fun to see how Tom from accounting decorated his living room. When the honeymoon period was over we all found every excuse to hide behind our profile images.
Technology has grown exponentially since the 70s. We went from rotary phones bolted to the wall to mini computers in our hands. With FaceTime, Zoom, Google Meet, and even Facebook video, it really does feel like people are in the room with us. My husband plays games with his daughter remotely. My girlfriends and I gossip from three different time zones. Even my parents figured out how to FaceTime from an iPad.
Another Industrial Revolution
We started on farms. Then we moved to factories. Now we’re in the digital era and technology is growing exponentially every day. The pandemic forced businesses, big and small, to adapt or disappear. And what a time to adapt. Creativity exploded. Innovation became survival. People who had never used Amazon started ordering groceries from it. Restaurants who never delivered suddenly had to figure it out. Going digital wasn’t a trend. It was a lifeline.
Every day, something new emerged to solve a problem we didn’t know we’d have. Kids attended virtual classrooms. My niece actually got in trouble for falling asleep during math class on camera. Clearly she inherited some of my teenage DNA.
My grandfather didn’t predict the pandemic, but he was right about one thing. Video chat would change the world. Video chat was once science fiction. Now it’s sweatpants, ring lights, and a very real part of how we live and work.
2026
Of course, video chat was hardly the end of the story. Our generation has watched one technological breakthrough after another reshape everyday life. Home computers, the internet, smartphones, social media, and streaming all seemed futuristic at one point. AI Search and ChatGPT weren’t even on our radar. Now they are all a part of everyday life.
