I don't want to video chat that often but the reason is that the only way to do so is through Skype (hard to convince anybody to move to a different service) and the video and voice quality is usually really bad so yes, I do think it is a technical problem (maybe not just software though).

I'd love to video chat with my baby daughter in the mornings because i go to work before she wakes up. But cannot because due to bandwidth issues, its an awful experience. So count me as an adopter if and when video chat ever becomes good!

Video chat is good, it sounds like you just need more bandwidth.

i guess that you're a Generation X-er, around my age, ie. ~40 years :)

I think that younger generations are the same, if not more so. Texting is far less intimate than a phone call, and a video chat is more intimate than a phone call. People are going in the other direction for most of their daily social contact.

I'm in my 20s...