Transnational connections through emerging technologies

In California’s Bay Area, two teenagers huddle over a mobile phone. As they speak to their four-year-old sister and parents in Guatemala, their joy is palpable-the poor connection does not temper their excitement. As the boy clutches a prepaid calling card, his speech accelerates as an automated voice declares that only a minute remains on the call. It ends before he has a chance to say good-bye. Sometime later, at the teenage girl’s 14th birthday party, the parents appear on a webcam watching from afar as their daughter blows out candles. They remain on the video call throughout the celebration, happily observing but not fully participating in the festivities. Their virtual presence is meaningful but perhaps not enough, we might surmise, as we look more closely at the birthday girl’s face.