Many cell phones have cameras -- though perhaps not video phone capabilities.
People have known about video phones since the phones' debut at the 1964 World's Fair, but in the first years of the 21st century the video phone is still not widespread throughout the world. Video phone production is growing for a variety of reasons but for other, equally valid reasons, people are not yet willing to purchase the latest, audio/video technology.
Visual Contact
Seeing other people -- always good. And possible with video phones.
For the hearing-impaired, video phones offer visual cues to make conversations more understandable, while additional visual signals can also aid people with speech problems. Anyone else simply looking for more sensory stimuli would appreciate a video image to go along with a voice. However, Peter Landers, writing for the Wall Street Journal, states that many people simply do not want a visual relationship on the phone. Many people still like the privacy a basic phone conversation has to offer, and they are not willing to trade this privacy for extra visual contact.
Travel Bypass
When face-to-face meetings are easy, video phones help bridge the gap.
" If you're on a business trip, do you want to see your kids when you call home at night? Of course you do," said businessman and father Stephen Burke. Video conferencing offers further intimacy between families and loved ones, and as the expense of transmitting video signals decreases, people will turn more and more to video phones to bridge the gaps of great distances. Video phones are also beginning to catch on in the business world for the very same reasons. As software improves, businesses are turning less toward travel and more toward video conferencing, which allows for many people at once to share in audio and visual discussions through simply logging on to their computers and adjusting their web cameras. Though, for good or bad, video conferencing is still not the same as being physically present at the meeting.
Distractions
Walk and talk? Not so bad. Drive and talk? Maybe worse.
According to The Deseret News, a research team from the University of Utah in 2003 concluded that driving while talking on the phone is as dangerous as driving drunk. If people had an additional image to focus on while they were driving or walking they would have one more reason to lose track of their actions. But people at the same time, while using video phones, can become distracted with the world around them, thereby irritating the person on the other end of the phone. Video phone conversations, like face-to-face conversations, are most fruitful in low-distraction, relaxed atmospheres.
Tags: video phones, many people, video conferencing, video phones