Show and Tell for the I Generation
Across the globe, strangers are meeting for the first time from the comfort of bedrooms, classrooms, bathrooms and just about anywhere else you could possibly take a computer: Chat Roulette is quickly becoming the latest greatest internet phenomenon. You'll come face to face with everything from sock puppet psychiatry, people in fancy dress, guys jacking off, college students taking delight in saying 'BUM' to strangers, drunk people smoking hooka pipes, people playing instruments, a whole array of sinage ('show boobs' seems popular), Norwegian choristers singing in eight part harmony, to your garden variety exhibitionists - the one thing you can be sure of is that you will see things you'd rather not and things you never quite imagined.
Here's how it works: click “start” and your webcam turns on, connecting you to a video chat with another person at random. It's annonymus and unrecorded, so you never quite know who or what you're going to get. Chat Roulette is like YouTube gone wild; unregistered users blindly connecting to other users may seem intriguing to many, but for all those strange weirdos creeping around the internet, it's a freaks paradise. It's like 'Show and Tell' for Generation I, only instead of bringing your pet guinea pig to school, you're showing your wang to unsuspecting strangers halfway across the world.
Looking at the facts, I'd say it's a safe bet that you're on a one-way trip to Worldwide Wang Fest 2010. OK, maybe I'm jumping to conclusions here, since I've only actually used this programme once. There were four of us sitting in a friends lounge, and the conversion went like this...
Stranger: Hi
Stranger: I can see your boobs
You: That's my shoulder, genius.
Not particularly inspiring, but maybe I've been too quick to judge? Enough of the speculation, it's time to do a little experiment.
It was a Thursday morning when I sat down with a cup of coffee and a notebook, ready to connect with precisely 20 people in the name of random sample research. As I connect, I am told that 20,000 people are online. Firstly, who the hell are all you people? You're sitting alone at home, and you want to talk to strangers, so either you're a wanna-be internet journalist blog-superstar doing your research (like me), a bored Psychology student who makes a hobby out of social experiments (like me), or you're simply Very Weird (like... not me).
Turns out, my second meeting (the first one being a penis, of course) was with a person who was infact a Psychology student. We chatted idly for a while, about school and pens and where we were from, until I told him I was doing research for an article. Then this...
Stranger: Well I've been spreading a message on CR. I've left it up for days and mmmmmany people have seen it. What do you think? I saw too many penises... and didn't really want my finace' or sister or mother to have the same experience.
Stranger: I think what shocks people is they are expecting a religious nut to be behind the sign.
Yes, it would certainly seem that way. A little stange, but also heartening that there are people out there with more noble aspirations than sharing their body parts.
My fourth encounter (the third one being another penis) was with a black square. When I confessed my purpose for being there, he told me this...
Stranger: actually i have a story. i've been trying to find out how to post it. i saw someone that hung themselves last night.
He said he would send me some pictures, but I declined. It was probably a hoax, or not... either way I didn't want to see. Instead, I disconnected, and continued filling up my columns to reach stranger number 20. The cam focused and... it was a penis. My final stranger was another penis. I pressed next, thought I knew that I'd already reached my target number. I waited for the next random stranger to appear, determined to prove that there was something more interesting than disembodied penises floating around.
Stranger number 21 had no camera. After a few lines of chat, I discovered that they were in school. What, right now, you're in school? Yes, in high school. OK, I'd seen enough. Point proven, there was something else out there, and it's your kid sister, looking a 19,000 disembodied penises. Ew.
So, my findings were these; out of a random sample of 21 strangers, I encountered 4 actual penises, 2 suspicious looking crotch shots, 2 indecent requests, 2 certifiably normal conversations, 1 suicide hoax, 1 underage user, 1 sign, and sadly, no people in fancy dress. As for the 'Roulette' part, I fared pretty well, with 8 disconnects, thought admittedly I did find myself feeling somewhat offended each time, and sort of wished I'd at least put some make-up on first. I could imagine that 20 disconnects could leave a person feeling like the spotty, geeky kid in high school that no one wants to talk to, and by the end of my experiment I was glad to be back in the real world where people are more covert about their judgments of others.
Conclusions? Firstly, chaos reigns on Chat Roulette. The medium of self-publishing has hit a new low, making it easier than ever for Pedophiles to connect with youngsters. All the more reason to monitor you kids' internet access.
The concept itself is nothing new; web cams and chat programmes have been around for years, but many users now opt for facebook and MSN instead. Why? Well, it weeds out the weirdos and allows you complete control over who you connect with. Yet, there is something strangely addictive about the Chat Roulette phenomenon. It's sort of like waving at a stranger on a passing boat. We're compelled to do it, but we're not sure why. We wouldn't do it to someone we didn't know in the street, yet there seems to be some worldwide desire for anonymous social interaction.
Statistically speaking, my results suggest that the majority of people are actually NOT just trying to satisfy some voyeuristic urge to exhibit their naked organs. Quel surprise! Maybe Ideological Religious Psychology Guy was right. Maybe Chat Roulette is a great opportunity to chat to people from many cultures, across the world, sharing our news, views and simulated high-fives. Some people want to broaden their minds and interact with people from other cultures, whilst others merely aspire to bare their privates in front of strangers. Such is life.
Will it stick around? Sure it will, but whether it will become a marvelous tool for a meeting of the minds or simply a global cockfest remains to be seen.
Kim Haslam
INTERESTING CHAT ROULETTE QUOTES
Stranger: Well... we just got on here because we were pretty fucked up. the majority is strange guys stroking their peepees. but there have been a few cross-cultaral moments like we are having currently. i have enjoyed it so far and really hope to see more vagina
Stranger: i talked to a gingerbread man
Stranger: yeah, it's a great opportunity...if it doesn't become the red light district of the Internet.
Stranger: Tell me you are drawing me a picture.
Stranger: i didnt think girls existed on here. 30 min and nothing but dudes jackin it
Stranger: im trying to find celebrities, my friend talked to the jonas brothers and snoop dog lol
Stranger: the internet has fallen into ruin.
Stranger: i think i just have a general misanthropic attitude towards people on the internet
Stranger: i WISH fetlife was all just a dream, i could sleep at night easily.
Stranger: your in a cafe and not getting coffee? thats like punching jesus in the face!
Stranger: Hong Kong! No way! My room mate is Japanese! Wait... you're lying, you don't look Japanese.
No comments:
Post a Comment