Should you talk to Strangers?

Do you remember when you were young and your parents told you never talk to strangers? Apparently, times are changing, as several websites have been developed to encourage the one-on-one interaction between strangers. As adults, we often do have to interact with strangers but most of us try to limit it because we haven't built up a level of trust with a stranger.

The website, www.gettingrandom.com, is one of the websites that is hoping to change the way we feel about strangers. The website provides people with the ability to carryon anonymous chat with a stranger. The other person could be anyone from anywhere in the world that has access to the Internet. Are you talking to a Spanish beauty from Spain, or perhaps a young athlete from the Russian Federation?

Because of the sites anonymity, you have no idea. All you know is what you are told by the other person. Getting Random allows you to make a few more choices on your road to exposure to total strangers. You can choose your gender and the gender of the person you hope to talk with. You might not want to choose at all and go with a total random selection. No matter which choice you select, you will be connected to someone that you can talk to.

No one has to create a handle or profile to use the website. You handle is just ‘you' and the other person is ‘stranger.' Talk for as long as you want or simply click the disconnect button and move onto the next person. You have control. The interactions are not monitored and you should be cautious about what information you provide. Use common sense and you should be fine.

The new website is one of many that are hoping to provide people with the ability to talk with people they might not ordinarily have access to. Omegle is another website that is similar to Getting Random. Omegle is a simpler version that does not have as many features as Getting Random. You can access people from Facebook by clicking on the Facebook icon. At the bottom of the webpage are a number of random pictures of people from Facebook. Clicking on one of those pictures can provide you with another way to meet strangers that are also part of Facebook.

Stranger chat appears to be growing in popularity and it was created to meet a special need that many people are beginning to feel. Because of the Internet's ability to take care of all of our needs from home, some people are becoming isolated from society. This group of people is losing their ability to interact with people that may have different views and opinions than they do.

Getting Random may help to prevent this situation from escalating by proving a method for them to interact again. It may not be much, but it is a start. The benefits provided by diversity are numerous. Talking to people with different views is important. So perhaps, for this situation, talking to strangers should be encouraged.