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My brother’s glowing recommendation and an article in New York magazine encouraged me to try ChatRoulette, a website that allows you to video chat with “random strangers”.
How do you play? Keep clicking “next” until you like what you see. Other users do the same.
I’ve heard stories of masturbating men, playful Chilean girls, boobs, and drunken Irishmen.
Armed with this information, I was nervous, but I decided to try it for myself anyway.
During my session, I saw one headless masturbator, a young man smoking in bed, a frat-boy type guy in Washington, DC, an old man in Kentucky, and a teenage boy in Germany wearing large headphones. I encountered no women during my time on ChatRoulette.
So, what did I conclude? ChatRoulette isn’t scary after all.
However, it is the Anti Social Media.
You see, I truly believe that social media is a means for people to connect in new ways, ways not possible in real life situations.
Think about how many people you pass each day, who you will never see again. You ride a train and stare at everyone around you. Do you ever wish you could connect with those people?
ChatRoulette really is no different than riding a train with anonymous passengers. Unless you choose to exchange contact information with the other person, you will never see them again. You will not even talk to them again. The point of ChatRoulette is to keep moving forward, seeking something novel. You are encouraged to click the “next” button when you no longer feel like talking.
I’m sure some people, like the masturbating men, enjoy the anonymity of the online world.
But the best and most evolved aspects of social media involve the ways you can choose to connect with people very specifically. You can find friends based on common interest or by location. And you can choose to connect with them in real life.
In fact, I think the ultimate goal is to convert your online social networks to real networks. You should want to create and SUSTAIN relationships that you couldn’t normally develop in real life, at least not without any luck.
The people I met on ChatRoulette were nothing more than passing ships.
ChatRoulette is not advancing social media; it’s only mimicking the ways we don’t connect in real life. If you like the voyeuristic feeling you get from riding a train and imagining other people’s histories, then go ride a train. Or play ChatRoulette, if you want to add an international flair to your adventure, without having to leave the comfort of your home. “Sit next to” a stranger on the other side of the world with just one click.
But don’t expect to exchange more than a few funny faces.
nice post
“Masturbating men, playful Chilean girls, boobs, and drunken Irishmen”? Sounds like the New York subway system at rush hour. Seriously.
I just tried Chatroulette, much to the self-same tune of what you observed. Lots of genitalia flopping about, rare female dopplegangers mixed with a French boys and their cats, then one sweet man from Turkey at his office desk. Aside from the aspect of helping a flailing student from Belgium with his English grammar, my experience was cold and empty. I think you are on point with your comments regarding social media. These are not relationships built on common, thickening bonds, but on curiosity. However, the “hot or not” appeal of seeing who formidably clicks “next” to your face can be both narcissistically appealing and detrimental all at once. It’s like the bar scene all over again, without the expensive drinks or frighteningly large doorman checking ids and sense of style. Great post.
I agree that the first time on Chatroulette is very scary! I was too chicken to try it on my own. While I did have very many funny interactions with my friend while on the site, as well as a few language exchanges, I agree it is not a site where you can sustain any sort of relationship with anyone. Besides all the pervy flashers it is mostly curious people who don’t really know what to do or say. Although I do think that this sort of face-to-face interaction will increase in the future.
chat roulette is yet another example of society doing something just because it can via the internet without considering any consequences. today, at best, it’s just a fun and semi-interesting way to waste some time (at worst it’s something that fuels people’s unhealthy desires and obsessions) – tomorrow it could be people’s main form of communication and entertainment. there’s no telling where this idea will take people, but given how quickly it’s spread through our society (being mentioned everywhere from NPR to my dad to this blog) it seems like it will make a very large imprint on our society. That is why I’m terrified of it and will continue to refuse to type “chatroulette.com” into my address bar.
The difference between riding a train and observing people and chat roulette is the difference between video games and books. In one instance you use your imagination to build upon the environment you go out of your way to experience, in the other you interact directly with something appearing before you without thinking very much about it. Not the best analogy, but you get where I’m going with that…