So I decided to try Omegle today.
Basically, I don't have a webcam and the idea of video chatting with randoms on chatroulette scared me a little. Also, I remember the good old days on yahoo chat when about 90% of the people on there were prowling for sex and I was an innocent 11 year old seeing what it was all about and being horrified.
Like formspring, I have mixed feelings about the idea of random people talking to me, asking me things anonymously and being powerless to identify them because they are, in fact, anonymous. I also really don't like sexual advances on the internet... there's a time and a place in my books and unless I'm already dating someone, I won't be engaging in steamy conversations with them online.
After tentatively clicking that I wanted text chat and not video, I was off. The first person I spoke to was nice enough. I'm assuming a male, he said he was from the US. I explained it was my first ever conversation on omegle and he gave me some advice: "be prepared to be disappointed with about 98% of the conversations you have on here." He also told me that a fair few people don't speak english very well and to avoid internet slang beyond 'lol' or anything else that is used pretty universally. We had a chat about greek food for a bit (he worked in a greek restaurant, apparently) and then he got a phone call and logged off.
The next person started the conversation with 'I am a hungry dragoness and I want to eat you'. Not a bad conversation opener, huh? I laughed (aloud) nervously and typed "in a dungeons and dragons kind of way or in the sense that you will actually devour my flesh and throw my body off a bridge?" she responded that it would depend on how yummy I am with a little wink smiley. I stared at the computer for a few seconds too many, apparently, and then she disconnected.
The next 3 people disconnected the second I typed "hi". After that, there were a few (i'm guessing teenage) boys who wanted to know my age, gender, where I was from and if I wanted to engage them sexually...... I clicked disconnect. A few people later and I'm speaking to a lovely guy from the US. Apparently his name is alex and he's a bit tipsy from a few after work drinks. We chatted for a good 20 minutes about life, what it's like where we're from (without either of us giving away things like age, where exactly we lived or anything creepy like that). It was his first day too, apparently, and he was just bored and not looking for any kind of sexual advances. Phew. After 20 odd minutes, I accidentally pulled my USB internet modem out of my computer. Oops. I took it as a sign that I should talk to somebody else and reconnected.
After that, a few more sexual prowlers, a man who specified that he was only interested in talking to me if I was a muslim female of a certain age group who would be his girlfriend, and a high school girl from the US again who was talking about the trials and tribulations of her final year of school (bless her. The end of schooling sucks!) and, oops, I accidentally pulled out my internet modem again. It's plugged in right next to my laptop's power cord and when I take out the power cord, goodbye internet.
All in all, I can understand the collective horror of parents everywhere who are worried about their teenage daughters being exposed to sexual deviants. Then again, from the people I did speak to, apparently these girls are just as likely to BE the sexual deviants who scare the unsuspecting public. If you speak to somebody interesting, you feel a little sad if you disconnect, but you also feel very fulfilled knowing that there are other people out there who you can genuinely have a conversation with. Also, I liked being able to ask people what their way of life was like and being able to explain my own, knowing that it wouldn't be another 'same old' conversation that you would have with the person who lives around the corner from you.
It's also highly addictive because you're so intent on speaking to someone who is not a complete creep that you're compelled to keep looking in the hopes that you meet someone interesting. One day, maybe I will muster the courage to use chatroulette, but for now I think this was adventurous enough for now. Who knows, maybe if you give it a try you may actually talk to me one day.
Basically, I don't have a webcam and the idea of video chatting with randoms on chatroulette scared me a little. Also, I remember the good old days on yahoo chat when about 90% of the people on there were prowling for sex and I was an innocent 11 year old seeing what it was all about and being horrified.
Like formspring, I have mixed feelings about the idea of random people talking to me, asking me things anonymously and being powerless to identify them because they are, in fact, anonymous. I also really don't like sexual advances on the internet... there's a time and a place in my books and unless I'm already dating someone, I won't be engaging in steamy conversations with them online.
After tentatively clicking that I wanted text chat and not video, I was off. The first person I spoke to was nice enough. I'm assuming a male, he said he was from the US. I explained it was my first ever conversation on omegle and he gave me some advice: "be prepared to be disappointed with about 98% of the conversations you have on here." He also told me that a fair few people don't speak english very well and to avoid internet slang beyond 'lol' or anything else that is used pretty universally. We had a chat about greek food for a bit (he worked in a greek restaurant, apparently) and then he got a phone call and logged off.
The next person started the conversation with 'I am a hungry dragoness and I want to eat you'. Not a bad conversation opener, huh? I laughed (aloud) nervously and typed "in a dungeons and dragons kind of way or in the sense that you will actually devour my flesh and throw my body off a bridge?" she responded that it would depend on how yummy I am with a little wink smiley. I stared at the computer for a few seconds too many, apparently, and then she disconnected.
The next 3 people disconnected the second I typed "hi". After that, there were a few (i'm guessing teenage) boys who wanted to know my age, gender, where I was from and if I wanted to engage them sexually...... I clicked disconnect. A few people later and I'm speaking to a lovely guy from the US. Apparently his name is alex and he's a bit tipsy from a few after work drinks. We chatted for a good 20 minutes about life, what it's like where we're from (without either of us giving away things like age, where exactly we lived or anything creepy like that). It was his first day too, apparently, and he was just bored and not looking for any kind of sexual advances. Phew. After 20 odd minutes, I accidentally pulled my USB internet modem out of my computer. Oops. I took it as a sign that I should talk to somebody else and reconnected.
After that, a few more sexual prowlers, a man who specified that he was only interested in talking to me if I was a muslim female of a certain age group who would be his girlfriend, and a high school girl from the US again who was talking about the trials and tribulations of her final year of school (bless her. The end of schooling sucks!) and, oops, I accidentally pulled out my internet modem again. It's plugged in right next to my laptop's power cord and when I take out the power cord, goodbye internet.
All in all, I can understand the collective horror of parents everywhere who are worried about their teenage daughters being exposed to sexual deviants. Then again, from the people I did speak to, apparently these girls are just as likely to BE the sexual deviants who scare the unsuspecting public. If you speak to somebody interesting, you feel a little sad if you disconnect, but you also feel very fulfilled knowing that there are other people out there who you can genuinely have a conversation with. Also, I liked being able to ask people what their way of life was like and being able to explain my own, knowing that it wouldn't be another 'same old' conversation that you would have with the person who lives around the corner from you.
It's also highly addictive because you're so intent on speaking to someone who is not a complete creep that you're compelled to keep looking in the hopes that you meet someone interesting. One day, maybe I will muster the courage to use chatroulette, but for now I think this was adventurous enough for now. Who knows, maybe if you give it a try you may actually talk to me one day.
No comments:
Post a Comment