After mIRC and ICQ, huge chat hubs providing opportunities of various kind of conversations to millions of unknown partners from all over the world, a new concept, tailored about the principle of the roulette - random video and audio conversations with strangers randomly "chosed" by a computer is getting increase popularity - chatroulette.
It was created by a young 17 year old from Moscow - just in order to answer some needs a teenager used with this kind of comunications discovered while using current similar sites. For entering the site you have to guarantee - a word is a word - that you are at least 16. As far as I tried, it is no way to check it so, more or less is a matter of chance. The principle is not too complicated: you are directed to various kind of people, you are talking with and if you want, to push the "next" button and are directed further. And, in fact, you could never stop, as long as you could be in direct contact - visual as well - with people from all over the world who, comparatively with other websites, they could see you and you could see them.
The door to various kind of abusive behavior is open, as the system itself is in process of improving/changing/adapting to the needs and risks of the users.
Our communications habits are changing and the roulette system is only a simple answer to a simple need we, as humans, discovered in ourselves, to know more people, from various kind of the corners of this big world. It is interesting that the main trends are set by the very young - it was the same with Google, with Facebook, for example - that the other age group of the population is following and to whom it is adapting easily. At the end, there are no barriers, we could enter purposively or not, in touch with various kinds of people, to know an impressive number in only a couple of hours.
The good part is that we are able to improve our knowledge about world, about other cultures, to improve foreign languages or to feel less alone. To consider communication and the words as the main tool to use in getting in contact with the world. The bad side is related to the possible abuses - from various sexual exhibitionists and pedophilia - following the widespread use of these free access websites. But, at the end of the story, it is still about information: as long as you are aware and you know what to do, how to defend yourself against this kind of behaviors - blocking, reporting abuses, going to the next conversation - you could survive. Is in a way similar to the dangers that usually you could encounter in the street: people could rob you, beat you, aggress you. You have to be able to recognize the good and the bad and to drive yourself as safe as possible. Staying home just to prevent various kind of dangers is not the wise solution, isn't it?
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