More Americans are getting on board with video chat to communicate with friends and loved ones, thanks in part to new smartphone capabilities and Internet services such as Skype, Google Talk, and Apple iChat, a new study suggests.

According to Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Project, almost a fifth of American adults – 19 percent – have tried video calling either online or via their cell phones. The Internet remains the most popular way to do so: about 23 percent have participated in this form of communication over the Internet using their computers, compared to seven percent who used their cell phones.

Although video chat does indeed make face-to-face chatting easier, it does require more attention from its users that other forms of communication, according to Kathryn Zickuhr, one of the authors of the report.

"Video chat – especially compared to text messaging, instant messaging and standard voice calling – requires a lot extra effort from the users," Zickuhr told TechNewsDaily. "You can't really multitask while you’re video chatting , your computer basically has to stay in one place and you may want to pay more attention to your appearance. It’s more demanding of your attention in ways other communication is not.”

Read More