- Share This Post
- 0
- submit
- 8
-
Sparkle (0)
Having made my way onto the Internet in 1996, I remember the chat rooms of yester year. A place you could visit and encounter wonderfully interesting people or lonesome losers. One never really knew who would show up, but if the room got too crazy, you could pop out at any time and leave. No harm, no foul.
I myself was a chat host, known far and wide as PSWN OyVey, on what was then the premier parenting site, "Parent Soup." It was my job to deal with The Crazy and block inappropriate visitors from the chats whenever I deemed it necessary. And frankly, I didn't have to ban anyone all that often. Usually the interloper was a teenager, and a private instant message from me claiming, "Hey, you're interrupting my chat. I know your family. So you might want to leave now. ; )" was all it took for the unsuspecting and Internet un-savvy teen to figure out they should exit stage left. Before departure, nine times out of 10, the trollish teen would send an IM back to me, "Thank you, sorry!" Seriously, it cracked me up every time.
Most kids entering chat rooms were just bored and looking for entertainment. Stirring up shit in a chatroom provided them with something to do, and it filled up their fun-o-meter. Kids who are online these days aren't much different than their predecessors from over a decade ago. They still get bored, still want to find the funny in life and they still want to put one over on their parents. So it's no wonder the idea of ChatRoulette was developed by a 17-year-old, and ChatRoulette appeals to teens and young adults.
If you haven't heard of it, Kirida has a great piece about ChatRoulette posted in the Family Connections forum, where parents are weighing in on what they think of their kids participating in what has been oft compared to a "video chat room" or even meeting a stranger on a bus.
But as Therapy Doc points out, there may be a big difference between ChatRoulette and what is known as a typical chance encounter:
"But ChatRoulette is different. It's about face-face, body-body social interaction with no pre-interview survey, by camera, any time of day, with a random individual, someone online at the same time, in the same room, or rectangle. You walk into a different random social interaction, not unlike sitting in the waiting room to see your medical doctor. Wait a minute. It's very unlike meeting a random stranger at the doctor's. In the waiting room, the likelihood is that both of you are fully clothed."
Here is my opinion, for what it's worth. Don't hit the panic button before you check it out yourself and then talk to your kid. And by checking it out, I'm not suggesting you sign up for ChatRoulette and subject yourself to spinning the wheel and landing on Mo the Masturbator, because it seems like you've got about a 40 percent chance of hitting that particular jackpot. What I am recommending is you either try it once yourself, or if you aren't feeling lucky, read up on it so you can talk with your kids about any concerns or objections you may have. If you feel it is something you might be willing to "legalize and regulate," it will be helpful when explaining which parts of the game you find okay and which parts are verboten if you have some firsthand knowledge on which you are basing your rules of engagement.
For example, maybe you are fine with your older college kid playing on their computer but not on yours. Or possibly you would be okay with your high-schooler checking it out with you sitting by her side, but you don't want her trying it at a friend's house sans parental supervision.
Go check out Vanessa's post over at Radical Parenting, in which she outlines Five Things Parents Should Know About ChatRoulette, then read through the five things, noting your own perspective on each and what you want to bring up and address when you speak with your child.
"Glamorizing Strangers" might be a platform to springboard discussion between parent and child in regard to how some folks are cautious when they meet new people in person but aren't as cautious about meeting new people online.
As I've said before, online
