A short film by the Neistat Brothers’ inspired me to explore Chat Roulette a few nights ago. For those of you who don’t know: Chat Roulette is a site that allows you to video chat with random people all over the world. With the click of a button a person appears on your computer screen. You can either chat with the person or move to the next person with the click of your mouse; this is called ‘nexting’ someone. Chat Roulette is largely populated by lonely guys hoping to glimpse a woman and/or expose their johnsons. So there is a lot of nexting going on.
I went on the site and watched a few faces appear and disappear as if my screen was an eye that conjured someone new with each blink. The experience was perfectly dehumanizing and potentially depressing. There’s also something about the aesthetics of communicating with single anonymous guys via webcam that makes you assume a johnson is just around the corner.
On a whim, I wrote an opening line - ‘I REFUSE TO NEXT ANYONE! ANYONE!!’ - to paste into the text box before I could be nexted. It felt like a defiant gesture - some sort of dare.
I watched the first guy read the sentence. It seemed he was translating the words in his head. He could be anywhere in the world after all. Then he laughed and gave two thumbs up. Turns out he was Argentinean, sitting in his living room in Buenos Aires. He told me he was new to Roulette and was glad to meet good people. When we were done chatting he flashed me...the peace sign. Then I chatted for a while with a 16 year old kid in China who told me his English was not strong. I told him I once taught English to Chinese students in Brooklyn and then referred him to some ESOL sites. He told me I was an excellent teacher. I love Chinese students. Next I chatted with a guy in Maryland who loved my opening line so much he vowed to spread it across Chat Roulette. I encouraged the idea but asked for a footnote.
I was a bit uncomfortable about it, but in the name of science I even put The Boy on camera at one point. Onscreen were a few 20-something guys who had the sort of amped energy that went with chugging beers and beating nerds but not necessarily in that order. Score one for humanity: when they saw The Boy they cheered and said he was cute. I like to think The Boy saved a nerd that day.
I still got nexted a lot but mostly by people who disappeared so quickly I couldn’t even send my message. And I had less success with a pink stuffed animal and a guy who was dangling from a noose above an upturned chair. But for the most part people responded well.
The funniest encounter happened when the screen went completely black and these words appeared on my screen: get naked.
I responded in kind: I REFUSE TO NEXT ANYONE! ANYONE!!
The conversation continued as follows copied verbatim from my screen. My responses are in CAPS:
get naked
I WON’T NEXT ANYONE!
Get Naked
DONT BE A COWARD. BESIDES I AM NAKED. MY SKIN LOOKS LIKE FLANNEL [ed. I was wearing a flannel]
Get naked
YOU ARE BLACK AS NIGHT - NO OFFENSE
let me see your dick
I LOST IT - WHERE ARE YOU?
next me - my mouse doesnt work
I REFUSE. I TOLD YOU I REFUSE TO NEXT PEOPLE. BESIDES I THINK WE'RE GETTING ALONG WELL.
next me
FOR CRYING OUT LOUD - YOU SHOW UP TO CHAT ROULETTE
next me
WITH NO CAMERA & NO MOUSE
AND YOU ASK FOR DICK?!
SORRY CHARLIE, YOU'RE GONNA HAVE TO REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER. WE'RE IN THIS TOGETHER
im on on my ipod
THEN IT'S A STARING CONTEST. WHERE ARE YOU?
in new mexico. cmon next me
OK I'LL CUT YOU A BREAK BUT YOU HAVE TO SAY PLEASE
Please
NEXT
My adventure with Chat Roulette was exhilarating. I felt like I’d made an inroad into the dynamics of the site and it ultimately reinforced my love of the humans. By telling people I wouldn’t next them I was essentially inviting them to take pause. I was letting them know I would give them a chance. Stay awhile. I was also poking fun at the compulsive nexting everyone was doing. People seemed to appreciate that too.
Unfortunately, women can’t really expect to go on Chat Roulette without being aggressively harassed. If a woman were to attempt this same experiment she would get a glimpse into a perverted corner of the male psyche that would either boggle her mind or confirm her worst fears. Someone should figure out how to do a Women’s Only Chat Roulette. Just footnote me on it.
chat roulette from Casey Neistat on Vimeo.
...
Your 'no-nexting' opening line was a stroke of pure genius. And some interesting results. Thanks for sharing the experience :)
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