Technology has given me many magnificent things, but the most magnificent of all (for this month) has to be Chatroulette. There’s a stereotype that Chatroulette is full of ne’er-do-wells trying to take off their clothes, but I have never, ever experienced this while on the website. What I have experienced: a Turkish boy with a large mustache who chain-smoked; a boy from Brooklyn, N.Y., teaching his friends to roll blunts; several girls who immediately “next”-ed me (my gender rendered me useless, as they were trolling for some kind of love connection); and a personal concert performed by the Jonas Brothers.
Actually, that last one I did not experience, but I have friends who’ve met both the Jonas Brothers and Jessica Alba via Chatroulette, and have the screenshots to prove it. Either that or I’m just really gullible, but I like to believe the Jonas Brothers get wasted Saturday nights and go on Chatroulette.
The fun thing is Chatroulette was invented by a 17-year-old from Moscow, much like Facebook was invented by a college sophomore. Us young ‘uns are taking over the world, one social networking website at a time. I lump myself in with “us young ‘uns,” but really I shouldn’t because I’m not rolling around in piles of money like these kids are (I just have the one pile of money I roll around in).
Old people were touting Twitter as the next big thing, but I’m not seeing much evidence of that. I do have a Twitter account, though, I just use it as a shortened replacement for LiveJournal. My tweets include emo song lyrics and links to totally awesome videos and pictures. In fact, I wish LiveJournal would make a hard-core comeback, but for now, it’s Chatroulette.
There’s something poetic about being randomly matched with a stranger and expected to make some kind of connection. The weird thing is, more often than not, it turns into a great or funny conversation that restores your faith in humanity just a little (just keep nexting past the nakedness and your uplifted spirits will remain). It’s very much like real, face-to-face interactions, in which you dismiss a person or decide he or she is worth talking to within split seconds. Sitting creepily in the dark with no pants on? Dismissed.
There’s also something poetic about the constant shifting of websites and means of networking. MySpace and LiveJournal have fallen by the wayside, Facebook was embraced but then taken over by applications and creepily accurate advertisements, Twitter is a media darling, LinkedIn is a “grown-up” version of them all, and Chatroulette is growing in importance. We take on new trends as fast as we shed them (the common denominator being they are all means of connecting with other humans — how heartwarming). Ever wonder why Facebook is constantly changing its layout? That’s why. They’re afraid we’ll lose interest.
So enjoy Chatroulette while it lasts because we’ll soon be nexting through advertisements and “regular Joes” talking about “how great” their “new Verizon 7G backward flip phone” is (note: not an actual phone — yet). Don’t worry, though, a 12-year-old from Dubai is probably developing the next big thing as you read this. Life and social networking websites: This, too, shall pass.
Bethany Wynn is a junior French and sociology major. She can be reached at wynn at umdbk dot com.
