The social science literature describes in detail communication among nuclear family members within a single household; however, there is a surprising lack of information available about how people use communication media to keep in touch with extended family members and friends living outside their household. This paper describes a field study that was conducted to identify communication breakdowns between people who maintain relationships without seeing each other on a daily basis. “Rapid ethnography” methods were used to collect data from six households who participated in the month-long study. Findings describe the use of media from greeting cards to instant messaging, and underscore the impact of face-to-face contact on the frequency and intimacy of communication events. Implications for designing communication technology for the home are discussed.

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