How to Throw a Party From a Distance

When Shanika Gunaratna felt like the only responsible move was to cancel her 31st-birthday celebration, a Google Hangouts party suddenly seemed less like a Black Mirror episode and more like—okay, still Black Mirror–esque, but at least a happier episode.

- By Allison P. Davis

I WAS SUPPOSED TO GO HAVE low-key one-on-one drinks at June with my friend Karen, but I woke up with a sore throat and, after a lot of back-and-forth, decided that I didn’t want to step out of my apartment sick. She insisted that we had to do something, so we FaceTimed for an hour until her phone started to die and she suggested we switch to Google Hangouts.