Family portrait: Sitcom episode takes place entirely on laptop screen

Due to air on 25 February 2015, the latest episode of Modern Family uses character Claire Dunphy’s MacBook Pro as the catalyst of the episode.

Connection Lost follows the search for missing errant daughter Haley, told through iMessages, FaceTime, Facebook and other live messaging apps.

‘I have two daughters at college and we do a lot of FaceTiming,’ said series co-creator Steven Levitan during a recent press event in Los Angeles.  ‘And I realised that on that screen you could tell so much about my life. So the original idea came from there.’

The episode uses some of the techniques first seen in the short film Noah, a heart-wrenching insight into the way our always-on, digital lives are affecting our relationships.

For more on the interaction between our online and offline selves, read our macrotrend The Sharded Self.