Closer: Nina & Natalia

Welcome to the latest post in our Closer series, a look at how technology brings couples, cousins (i.e. family), and close friends closer. Nina and Natalia are sisters in their twenties living on opposite sides of the Atlantic, Nina in London away at business school and Natalia in New York City.

Unbucket: What technology (applications, websites, etc.) bring you closer to each other?

Nina: I think it’s mainly Skype with us — and email. We use Skype once a week, every week, and then sometimes a little bit more. I think that’s our main thing — and then email. Oh, sometimes Facebook; sometimes I don’t even realize Natalia is doing something and she posts it on Facebook and I’m clued into like, someone’s birthday party or seeing a photo, or something like that.

Natalia: I would definitely say we use email to check in if someone’s around or to give quick updates if it’s been a while. Skype allows us to see each other face to face. It’s nice; my family was having breakfast the other day and Nina was eating lunch with us on Skype, so it didn’t feel like she was in London and we were here [in New York].

There’s also Slingbox. The Slingbox is cool because I set it up in Nina’s room at home because she likes to watch her TV shows in the US. It’s connected to her TV in London, so we can be watching our same TV shows and talk about what happened on them. We still have our TV shows that we recap, like I like to watch Parenthood or she does her Grey’s Anatomy episodes. It’s not like we can’t watch the same TV shows just because she’s on a different continent.

Nina: Yeah, that’s true. I didn’t even think of that one.

Natalia: I know Nina wants me to get this little, I don’t know, what’s that stupid text thing you want me to get?

Nina: Elliot introduced me to that Natalia! My Blackberry is so fricken old that I can’t use it, but you know what’s interesting is, if I were more mobilely advanced than I am right now, I think we would keep in touch more regularly, but I think because I don’t text her all the time, it’s nice because we catch up when we have this space between. I think we’ve always been literally on top of each other and technology has given us this space in which we communicate…which is neat.

Unbucket: How does privacy factor into the technology you use to connect with each other?

Nina: So I personally don’t love Facebook, but I also realize I have, I don’t know, 900 and some odd friends on there. So it’s interesting because I prefer to take the mediums off the public domain, per se. I think in that respect I don’t necessarily think of Facebook first. If you notice, everything we listed is very private; Gmail is one-to-one, Skyping is one-to-one — but that’s just my own thing. What we put on Facebook, like, Natalia came shooting when she was in town, and that’s something you want to share with everyone. We would post stuff from that, you know? As long as I control what I want to be out there, then I’m okay with it.

Natalia: I don’t really think about the privacy issue. I don’t know, I’m not into that. I mean maybe if there was one of those Big Brother conspiracies, but, I’m okay — I don’t have anything to hide. If someone wants to listen to my conversation then they are more than welcome too.

(Nina laughs hysterically)

Unbucket: As a society, do you think technology is bringing us closer or driving us apart?

Natalia: I’ll take this one Nina. I think it’s bringing us absolutely closer. There are pros and cons, like I feel if this was ten years ago Nina would be sending me postcards or I would make more of an effort to send a care package. I think we forget about the more thoughtful things because technology makes it so easy to send an e-Card or just send an email instead of paying for a stamp. I feel like those things are the downfall, but for the most part I feel technology connects us, allowing Nina and I to never feel like we’re in some long distance relationship but as though nothing’s really changed, it’s just that I can’t physically touch her. We’re still the same people and she knows everything going on in my life and I know everything going on in hers.

Nina: To add to that point, I think that’s why I don’t like Facebook as much as a lot of  people do because I feel it takes the personal out of the interactions I have with technology. Like Natalia mentioned, the other day I literally had a meal with my parents. I was eating lunch and my parents and my sister were eating breakfast, and we sat around the table and talked. I would get turned around to see them, people were coming in and out — it was amazing! I think when I lived in Europe five years ago I had a cell phone and talked to my parents once a week. Technology today makes everything seem less far away. I think that’s an amazing gift to have and to be given, especially since we’re first generation American kids. We didn’t see our grandparents all the time, but now our little cousin Yalini takes an iPhone out and Skypes her grandparents in New Delhi and they read her a book before bed. It’s so amazing how technology changes the way your relationships feel and what you think is “near.” That is what’s allowed me to be in London and not feel so far away.