VoIPfriend and Relationships

It used to be when your loved ones worked abroad you exchange letters and recorded tapes to communicate. Every few months, packets would be sent and received to exchange news. Phone calls were reserved for special occasion – birthdays, anniversary, and holidays – as it was too expensive. My parents had this relationship early in their marriage; my mother worked as a nurse Saudi Arabia while my father worked for NFA here in the Philippines. My mother still has her box of old letters and cassette tapes. Back then, only a smaller percentage of the population worked abroad, about 350,982 deployed in 1984 according to DOLE.

Twenty five years later, and the landscape has changed. There are currently more than eight million Filipinos working overseas. Remember the 6-degree of separation theory? Well, applying the concept, how many “steps” do you have to take to connect to an OFW? On my part, one step as my brother works abroad. If I start outside family relations, it’s still one step as my best friend is a nurse about to leave for Brunei. It’s no wonder VoIP has become a big industry in our country.

As communication is very important in any form of relationship, it maybe familial, friendship or l.o.v.e. kind, and usually it is the first aspect to suffer when people are separated by distance. It is that constant need to chat and tell our family and friends about the most mundane things that happen in our daily life that make us feel connected to each other. VoIP solved the void (pun unintended) in relationships created by the mass deployment of Filipinos overseas. VoIP makes these connections easier. I know of several couples who keep their long distance relationship going by simply talking once a week. Parents who work abroad are able to be “parents” to their kids, actively participating in decisions like curfews and punishments. All these at the fraction of the cost of a regular telephone call abroad.

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