Even if you aren’t an introvert, you may still find it difficult to talk to people. Not the people you’re close with, maybe, but the people who are at the periphery of your social circles. If they’re complete strangers, it can be even trickier. You don’t know how to get the conversation going, there’s not much to talk about, and you’re already wondering if they’re going to gossip about you to someone else who’ll take it the wrong way.
The point is, if you’re outside your conversational comfort zone, things can get messy pretty quickly. However, this isn’t the case with all conversations. If you’re random chatting on Camsurf, for example, the dynamic is a lot different than what you’d find in real life. There’s more entertainment, and less second-guessing whether your last joke was taken literally. And best of all, if you can find your groove chatting with strangers online, you might actually get more comfortable with real-world conversations too. At the very least, you can have fun making some new friends. Let’s get into the details:
Table of Contents
1# There’s a Lot Less Pressure
Have you ever been in a situation where you wished the floor would swallow you up? Random video chatting may not have magical floors, but it does offer a “next chat” button that’ll instantly pair you with your next chat partner whenever you feel the need for it. Sounds pretty nice, right? It’s more than just a convenient feature to help you navigate the website; it’s a boon for anyone who struggles with nerves as they chat with strangers.
People who experience social anxiety are concerned about more than the interaction itself; they’re also concerned about what’ll happen if something goes wrong. If they’re random chatting, though, that one button gives them the perfect exit strategy. Even if they feel like they’ve absolutely bombed in the previous chat, it doesn’t matter. They’ll never see that person again, and their current chat partner doesn’t know a thing about what happened before. Random video chatting won’t turn you into a skilled conversationalist, but at least it makes it easier for you to pretend!
2# There’s More Freedom to Just be Yourself
Your chat partners won’t have any idea that you could be an awkward person in real life – so they won’t be anticipating it before you even start talking. It can be easier to talk to people who don’t expect you to act a certain way, because you get to present yourself on your own terms.
Say, for instance, that you’re characterized by your friend group as “the shy one”. If you felt like it was time to get out of your shell, it could be that much harder if you knew that this would surprise some people. Introduce yourself to a chat partner, though, and they won’t have any idea about who you are – plus, you get to tell them.
3# Being Socially Acceptable is a Lot Less Important
Random video chatting doesn’t give everyone free rein to do whatever they want (even though some do it anyway); even so, there are fewer unspoken rules to follow. Maybe the biggest exception is the way you can end a chat. If either party gets bored, offended, or just feels like a change, they can switch to the next chat in an instant. You could find yourself on the receiving end of this practice, or you could learn to do it yourself in order to optimize the way your chat sessions go. Either way, this isn’t a faux pas by any means; it’s just the way things work on a random chat site.
This isn’t to say that you can dispense with being polite altogether. When you start a chat, it’s best to do a little smile-and-wave routine just to establish that you’re friendly and ready to give your attention to your chat partner. Introduce yourself, and decide together what you want to talk about. If you don’t end up finishing the chat, that’s fine; at least you started off on the right foot.
4# Random Chatters are There to Talk With Strangers
Sometimes the hardest part of a conversation is getting it started. If you aren’t sure that someone is open to talking with you, why would you approach them and risk getting turned down or ignored? Even if you already know the person in question, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they’re in the mood for a quick chat.
Enter random video chats. People don’t visit video chat sites unless they want to talk, so it’s a safe bet that you won’t get any weird looks for trying to start a conversation. You won’t end up talking with everyone you cross paths with on the chat site, but that’s just a matter of compatibility. Technically you’re still getting rejected, but in this case, it doesn’t seem nearly as personal.
5# You Have Practically Infinite Numbers of People to Chat With
Another of the (many) stresses of trying to meet someone new is the thought that you may not have another chance for a long time. After all, if you aren’t already a social butterfly, your life probably doesn’t include a ton of opportunities to expand your list of acquaintances. If that thought is on your mind the whole time, you could be a bundle of nerves before you even got to the introductory handshake.
Start talking to your chat partners, though, and that thought won’t even enter your mind. You don’t have to wait for chance to provide you with another opportunity to meet someone; the algorithm will take care of it for you!
Even if you’ve never thought of talking with strangers as a personal strength, random video chatting can be a source of both socialization and entertainment.
If you get into random chatting for yourself, you could notice some of the benefits above – or you could even discover a few more on your own. You’ll never know until you try though, will you?
Jacob Brown is a Senior Writer and editor with fabulous writing skills. He is passionate about technology and loves to explore how it works to solve problems. With a geeky nature, he also loves to travel mostly hill stations. We believe, he has the brightest talent to craft the techie process in words.
