Image by Abby Hoelzer

Anjelique Kyriakos
Reporter

This year, midterm week took procrastination to a whole new level. Welcome to Chatroulette, an amusing alternative to the usual video chatting. The discovery of the website, www.chatroulette.com created a new favorite activity amongst students who were putting off studying at the library.

“It’s easy to say that it was the downfall of midterms 2010,” junior Henry Lloyd said. “It prevented hours of studying, and provided the majority with a guilty pleasure.”

Chatroulette is an innovative spin on your typical video chat. It’s pretty simple; the website is designed to randomly pair you with another Roulette user somewhere around the world. The spontaneous conversation is hilarious, entertaining, and somewhat creepy.

When using the site, you can click “next” at any time, or of course, continue talking to your current partner. Junior Kelly Donovan was one of many who tried out Chatroulette for the first time during midterm week. “We quickly ex out of different V-chats and switch to new ones seeing all different people,” she said. “One time a guy came on in a cat suit and would only meow and it was so funny.”

If you get too uncomfortable talking to someone like the man dressed in a cat suit, you get a quick laugh and then simply hit next. “People on [chatroulette.com] are freaking hilarious,” junior Joe Costigan said.

The amusement of Chatroulette becomes almost addicting, and countless hours can be spent engrossed in video chats with some of highly interesting people. “I think it is actually the most pointless thing ever, but it’s so distracting and enticing that you just waste time on it,” Henry said.

Sophomore Abby Hoelzer and friends went on Chatroulette as something to do to cure boredom, but in fact found more than she expected. “Throughout the course of using the website we came across many fascinating people, some of whom didn’t even speak English, so in a way it’s quite an educational experience,” she said.

Though as compelling as Chatroulette is, what ever happened to the first lesson children learn: don’t talk to strangers. Most people, including freshman Christy Coco seem to take precaution while using the website.

“I feel very unsafe, insecure, and even unprotected because you never know who could be on the other end,” she said. While Chatroulette is designed so that it is completely safe to use, the responsibility still lies in the users’ hands.

“Kids should be careful about giving information out because there are some weird people on the site,” Kelly said. As long as people are smart about keeping their identities private, Chatroulette is relatively safe to use.

“We mostly just do it with a bunch of friends, never alone, and all as a joke, not to actually meet people,” Kelly said.

Henry agreed. “Who wants to actually get into a conversation with these people?” he said. “Overall, the thing I think is hilarious is how you go on making fun of the other people, and being like ‘those kids are so weird!’ but at the same time, you’re just another weirdo that other kids are making fun of.”