Skype, FaceTime, and other video chat services have become so omnipresent that using them seems like second nature these days. Yet for someone who has never seen a phone camera before, the experience might be more surprising.
That’s why the baby in this video made all of us in the office here at WomenWorking.com laugh so hard –– and why his reaction touched our hearts.
In this video, a woman and an infant lie side-by-side on a bed looking into a video chat on a phone or a tablet. The baby, who’s sucking on a pacifier, stares wide-eyed at the lens while the woman next to him smiles.
Research published in the journal Developmental Psychobiology suggests children don’t recognize their reflections in mirrors until they’re 15 to 24 months old. That means the baby probably thought he was looking at another baby on the screen instead of himself.
Then, the baby’s eyes catch the side of the screen showing the woman, which we guess is his mother. Since babies tend to know their mothers intimately, this one would have recognized the woman immediately.
Suddenly he whips his head to look at the woman next to him and loses his pacifier as his jaw drops in surprise. His face splits into an ear-to-ear smile as he looks into his mother’s eyes, who grins back at him. The baby brings his tiny hand to her arm, giggling at her presence.
Still smiling, the baby returns his gaze to the camera . . . only to recognize the woman still on the screen. She was right next to him only a few seconds ago! His tiny face registers shock again as his eyes widen and his mouth drops open.
So if the woman is on the screen, is she still next to him on the bed? The baby rolls his head to the side to check, and sure enough, she greets him with a playful smile that he returns.
Technology has brought us a new version of peek-a-boo. To smile as much as this baby does, check out the video below.
When you just can’t believe that you’re seeing TWO of Mommy.
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6199243
https://thoughtfulparent.com/child-psychology-classics-mirror-test.html
