404 Not Found: Upgrading parental phone calls

Sometime during the last year, my mom started texting.

I didn't notice it was one of our regular forms of communication until the Super Bowl.

I made the mistake of admitting I was not going to watch the game. This was unacceptable in a family of Giants fans, so mom decided to keep me in the loop with text play-by-play updates .

She agreed to let me share some of them for this column, as long as I pointed out that her spelling is typically impeccable.

"Ill keep u abrest of the score" - 5:02 p.m.

"Giants draw firat blood let me know if u get this" - 5:49 p.m.

"At halftime its pats 10 and giants 9 i feel nauseous" - 7:08 p.m.

"Nyg 21 ne17 under a minute new englands ball" - 8:47 p.m.

"WE WON" - 8:59 p.m.

There once was a time when communication with my family back in New York was fairly simple. I would call them, or they would call me, and we'd talk, usually at least once a week.

That was six years ago. Now we connect on multiple channels throughout the week.

The Super Bowl updates are fairly typical of how my family uses text messages: to tell me things I don't really want to hear. The messages aren't just unwanted updates about sports; last week I got a text from mom reminding me “Dont forget to call dad for fathers day.”

We also communicate over Facebook, which is confusing because my parents hold joint custody of a single Facebook profile in dad's name. I've worked out some patterns; mom will take the time to comment whereas I'll usually just get a “like” from dad.

The biggest change is video chat, which has replaced some of our weekly calls. We use Skype, but free options are plentiful, ranging from Google Talk to Apple Facetime.

Everyone benefits from the addition of a visual element. Mom gets a chance to conduct an inspection of my apartment, and I get a chance to watch my nephew make goofy faces in the background

Kidding aside, the ability to communicate with my family face to face is enormously satisfying. Phone conversations acquire a rote regularity over time whereas video chat feels more like catching up over coffee (literally, if I'm drinking coffee at the time).

Video chat also helps make up for missed holiday connections. I didn't make it home for the last few Thanksgiving celebrations, but that hasn't stopped me from making an appearance.

Last year, I argued they ought to set a place for me at the dinner table surrounding a laptop screen, but I suspect that ventured too far into the uncanny valley.

I try not to sound too gushing on this subject at the risk of coming off as a trite techno-evangelist. There's nothing new here.

Text messaging is arguably a simpler medium than telephone calls, Facebook is just a complicated message board and video conferencing has existed in some form since the early 90s.

These are just channels - use the ones that work and abandon those that don't.

That's my philosophy, at least until we get 3-D holographic communication. Then I can get Giants games re-enacted on my livingroom floor.