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For the past week my productivity has been completely shot. As a result of being unproductive on the internet, I've lost all sense of self. I find myself in a strange reality where I can't differentiate between my own identity and that of a 33 year old in Oregon who works as a personal trainer. It's all thanks to the wonderful site that is Omegle.
Upon visiting the site, it's purpose is immediately apparent. There is no navigation, or list of links. There is simply a banner declaring, "Talk to Strangers!" and a button that allows you to do so. All of the chat is anonymous, and so far as I can tell, completely unmoderated.
After having a few boring conversations with people from Brazil (Most of the people on Omegle during the day seem to be from Brazil. Most of them are boring) I met a guy from Oregon. We had a long talk. I basically spent the night with this guy. What I was struck by, as how open that people are willing to be when they think they are anonymous. After his I had another such conversation. Then another.
Then, I started to use the personalities of the previous people I had talked to, in new conversations. Despite the fact that I was completely full of shit, I still got what I perceived to be juicy and honest responses to my queries. But what if all of the other people were doing what I was doing? After a long and circular discussion with my self, I have arrived at my current state of confusion.
One of the beauties of anonymous culture, is that it allows us to be anyone we want. It causes us to realize the fundamental truths of being human, through complete obliteration of self. Whether or not the people I chatted with were genuine, is unimportant.
I could continue that rant further, but I'm sure you understand my vague point. I would urge all of you to try out this service, as it is great fun and extremely intellectually stimulating.
I've saved all of my convos, and if I feel it is appropriate, I may post them here. So keep your eyes open.
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That's an interesting concept for a website, although the idea of chatting anonymously is not entirely new.
ReplyDeleteI think that anonymity can be a dangerous thing on the internet, especially when talking to others. Although some people have no problem revealing their personal information, the problem is (as you pointed out), what if they are making it all up?
What if it gets to the point where you consider this person you have been talking to for all this time a good friend ....only to realize that they were putting on an act the whole time?
Even worse, when trying to meet a potential romantic partner or hook up, lying about your physical characteristics or personality on the internet can be really bad when you meet the person and realize that you've wasted your time because they were nothing like you described.
Even if you use chat rooms or websites like the one you mentioned with no intention of meeting the other person, I think it's still good to have conversation using your own thoughts, ideas and personality. You don't have to say your name or get into much about your physical self, but as long as what you are saying is coming from YOU and not what you think the other person wants you to say or something completely made up for the hell of it...then i think it's okay.
If it's not you in any form, than that can be pointless or just plain wrong.
While this isn't completely new... I do find it interesting that they would make a site solely dedicated to anonymous chat. It reminds me of when I was younger and first learning about internet in elementary school. My friends and I would enter AOL chats with fake screen names and chat with people. The conversations were usually about sports and what not but I always made up my identity and things about myself. That is the fun of these sites. You can make up things about yourself and be whoever you want... as you mentioned in the post. In reference to the above comment I would always be weary if actually trying to meet and develop relationships over sites like this. People on the internet should never be trusted. It's just not worth it. Use a site like this for some fun... not to meet people.
ReplyDeleteThere is an element to this anonymity that you all are missing though: the Therapeutic element.
ReplyDeleteThere is definitely an inherent danger in anonymity (sexual predation, ease of deception, etc.) but that is on the front end. On the back end, there is the issue of what the receiver of the message says in response.
I would not be surprised if half of the people using Omegle are doing so just to talk things out. Knowing that you are talking to another human being is a comforting and reassuring, and I'm sure the anonymity element allows some people to say things that they never would say to someone they personally knew. This way, people can say the things that they have always wanted to, but couldn't. In this case, whatever the conversational partner says that is untrue is wholly irrelevant, so long as they are there to listen.
In response to some of the previous comments: anonymity is inherently safe. There's no danger of sexual predators, or finding out your date is fatter than you'd like, because "anonymous" implies a lack of identity, which renders the possibility of violence, or any encounter, non-applicable. It's why voting is anonymous...
ReplyDeleteWhat I gather from this is how lonely people are. Not in a bad way. I think we are all lonely at some point in our lives and just want someone to talk to.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that if the people are making it up, who cares? This site makes it obvious that these are anonymous chats, so you shouldn't be using it if you are looking for something concrete with another person.
This kind of reminds me of the iPhone app PhotoSwap. You basically take a picture of something with your phone and whoever took a picture at the same time you did you see their picture. If you like it, you respond with another photo, and the game continues. It is completely anonymous, but shows you just how many people are looking for someone to interact with.
You can't change who you are in the app, you take pictures of what is in front of you. But I do not think that pretending to be something or someone that you are not on a site such as this is a bad thing.
I do think, however, that it is wrong of people to lie on dating sites or sites that are not supposed to be anonymous.