Why we need Window Swap more than ever
I’m looking out Ayat’s window in Cairo. Nothing is happening in the construction site next door. The reinforced concrete pillars stand still. The unfinished steel rods are like fingers stretching up to the sky. I decide to skip somewhere new. This time to Alex’s place in Ukraine. It seems quiet in Odessa too, but every so often I catch the reflection of someone moving around.
It doesn’t matter that I’m sitting in Tokyo. Travel like this is easy. Like many over the last month I’ve become hooked on Window Swap: a service created by Sonali Ranjit and Vaishnav Balasubramaniam, which allows you to peek through a curated set of windows around the world.
Traditional webcams almost seem archaic but with the current global pandemic Window Swap’s appeal could be explained in a number of ways. Firstly, there’s the obvious escapism. Due to the current situation most of us are restricted in where we can go, but there seems to be something beyond this.
One important feature of Window Swap is the simplicity. Videos show the view from a window, are mostly static, and only a handful appear to have people in them. This is a particularly refreshing aspect in an age of selfies and me-ism watermarked onto any content. Generally speaking, not much happens. This recalls the golden age of “slow TV” in 2014 when many found themselves engaging in nine-hour viewing marathons of Norwegian trains or English canal journeys. The audience are passive observers, allowed to let the scene wash over them.
Another aspect is the timing. Window Swap arrives at a period where most of the world is united in its lack of mobility. Many of us are stuck looking at walls or windows that we are increasingly familiar with. While many of the views on Window Swap are beautiful, others are more mundane. Regardless of the view, the overall concept offers a sense of kinship with others as we deal with the same crisis across the world. It’s community rather than competition.
There’s also a final — very important reason — Window Swap is different. Spoiler alert: it’s not live. The webcams are carefully curated, ten minute video loops, which means the site delivers a quality, consistent service. It also avoids part of the fun (and at times horror) that came with early webcam pioneers, such as Chatroulette.
It’s been widely documented that screen time has risen for most of us since lockdown began. Rather than asking us to disconnect from devices entirely (which is not always an option) Window Swap offers a third option within the on/off binary. A pause from the endless scroll. Rather than running for the hills,this is what Jenny Odell describes in How to do Nothing as: “Remaining in place while escaping the framework of the attention economy and an over-reliance on a filtered public opinion.”
Window Swap offers us just the right amount of distance and familiarity. It’s remote but relatable, seemingly live but actually looped, and boring but calming. As we start to re-negotiate what is “normal” again, Window Swap serves up just enough escape, without diving into fantasy.
