Staying Touch with friends and Family Virtually

During this time where we have been asked to stay away from one another there are still great tools within reach to connect.  Technology is allowing us to cook dinner with one another, play games, show-off the kids latest masterpieces (or messes), or simply see each other.

FaceTime is a well-known app that allows Mac users to connect face to face with one another.  We have used FaceTime to chat with parents and grandparents.

Houseparty is a larger version of FaceTime where multiple users can be on the same call.

Zoom  is a program that we have been using for company-wide meetings, and other face-to-face calls.  There is free version, but you are limited to 40 minutes of meeting time.  40 minutes is actually quite a bit of time, especially with kid’s attention spans.  After 40 minutes you can start a new call.  I walked in the house other day and it looked the the Brady Bunch into with multiple users on one page.

If anyone has information on other technology please share it and I’ll update this post.  Share you ideas for entertaining each other too!