Just had a living-room-to-living-room video chat with my US family, all of whom are gathered at my sister's for T-day. Pretty awesome.
20 years ago, the first time I lived in Japan, the Internet was not in widespread use, so no e-mail; postal letters cost a buck to send, and took 9 days to arrive; there was no voice chat back then either, and a phone call was about a buck a minute.
Now I can video chat for free whenever; it helps bridge the gap, for certain.