Random video chatting is pretty simple, especially on a free video chat site like Chatrandom. All you have to do is hop onto the home page, specify your gender, and hit “start chatting”. So why should you have to remember anything when you’re just there for some free entertainment? Well, that’s up to you of course, but you might just end up getting more out of your chats if you approached them a little differently.
1. Most of the people you’re talking with are there for their own purposes.
Hardly a revolutionary concept, but there’s a reason why you should keep this in mind. When a new chat partner comes on screen, what’s the first thing you do? If you’re like most people, you’ll spend the first few seconds evaluating whether or not they seem like the kind of person you want to talk to.
Some people can have a great conversation with nearly anyone, while others can only vibe with specific personalities. Between one thing and another, you could get skipped over at the beginning of a chat, and that’s fine. It could be that low camera quality or a messy background are making you seem like a less appealing chat partner than you really are, but most of the times you get passed up, it’s just because you don’t quite fit what the other person is looking for.
2. There may be a few chats that are just better to skip.
By the same token, you shouldn’t feel like you have to stay in a chat if you don’t want to. If everyone else is there for themselves, you should be too! This is one of the ways in which random chats are a lot different than real-life conversations. Instead of having a social obligation to finish every interaction in a basically coherent way, you can leave a video chat whenever you want. If you were talking with a neighbor and ran off mid-sentence, they’d think you were either eccentric or rude. If you left a video chat without warning, though, the other person would just shrug and find another chat.
With all the characters you can find on random video chat sites, it’s to be expected that a few of them will be up to no good. It’s possible to encounter the occasional scammer, bully, or troll as you explore the random chats, and when that happens, you have an instant and effective escape plan in the “next chat” button.
3. Random chatting at different times of day will give you different results.
Even though most random chat sites boast users from all over the globe, this doesn’t mean that you can start chatting whenever you feel like it and meet people from any given country. There’s a very good reason for this: time zones. Your relaxed evening chat session is happening while other people are getting an early start on a busy day. If you’re curious to see if you’ve been missing out on anything by chatting at the same time every day, try doing it in the morning, or just before going to bed. You never know who you could meet!
4. You aren’t just chatting with strangers; you’re also improving your social abilities.
Unless you’re communicating via interpretive dance in each random chat, you’re probably sharpening your conversational skills whether you mean to or not. That won’t happen simply because you’re talking a lot, although that probably helps; it’s mainly because you’ll be put in all different kinds of situations that could help you expand your social repertoire. Even if real life doesn’t give you a chance to discuss your favorite spaghetti recipes with a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cosplayer, you’ll still have the tools you need to adjust to unexpected situations.
5. Nearly every random chat website protects your information, but keeping your identity secure is still partly up to you.
When you sign up for something, most websites will give you some assurance like “we’ll never sell your email address” or “we use this super-strong encryption method to safeguard your payment details”. With random video chat websites, though, you need something more. Fortunately, pretty much every random chat site delivers by ensuring anonymity for each user.
Having that protection in place is great, but there are other ways for sketchy characters to obtain your personal information. What’s their most common method? By simply asking you.
A scammer won’t just appear in your video chat and start pressuring you to give up your name and address. Instead, they’ll try the “open and honest” routine to get your guard down, and maybe even share their own (fake) information so you feel like you have to reciprocate. Just be aware that if someone’s asking about your last name, place of residence, email address, or any other sensitive information, they’re almost certainly trying to scam you.
6. Just because most chatters prefer casual conversation doesn’t mean you can’t branch out.
Random video chatting is a great venue for, well, chatting, but it’s also perfect for a lot of other activities. For instance, you could share a meal with someone – or cook a meal with someone! You could sing along to your favorite songs, or play “two truths and a lie”. Tour each other’s figurine collections, learn how to draw the Muppets, or practice some Monty Python imitations. It can be as obscure, quirky, or complicated as you want. As long as you’re both into it, there’s no reason not to try it out!
What would you add to the list?
Everyone’s experience with random video chats is unique, so you might end up discovering your own tips and tricks as you learn the ropes. Maybe you’ll experiment with your lighting and background to see if that changes how people respond, or you could see what happens when you suggest a debate about deep dish vs. thin crust pizza. What will you get up to on random chats? Maybe it’s time to find out!
About Carson Derrow
