Having Trouble Making Friends? Maybe You Just Need to Try Random Video Chatting
The past year has brought a lot of changes to the way we interact with people. For many, it’s slowed or even stopped normal social functions that they used to enjoy on a regular basis. For anyone who already didn’t have much of a social life, though, things might not have felt that much different. Regardless of which situation you happen to identify with, there’s a solution that increasing numbers of people are catching onto: random video chatting.
Video chat sites like Chatspin offer users the chance to meet strangers online, whether they’re looking for entertainment, a sympathetic listener, or just someone to hang out with. Random chats can be more than just a way to kill time, however; you could find that these chat sites actually improve your social skills and expand your friend group. How? Just keep reading!
You’ll have a much easier time starting conversations
Here’s a scenario most people experience at least once: you meet someone who you want to get to know better, but it’s up to you to get some kind of interaction going. Asking them what time it is will hold their attention for maybe three seconds, but that’s about the best you can come up with. Plus, you don’t even know how they’ll respond. Do they feel a similar interest in you, or are they just being polite? Are they already busy, and your attempts at a conversation are really just interruptions? All of these considerations and more can easily hold someone back from approaching a stranger and seeing what happens.
Contrast this to random chat sites, where you’re surrounded by people who are there specifically to talk to strangers. You can hardly get a better scenario for easily striking up a conversation with someone. Not every chat partner will stick around necessarily, and you’ll probably skip past your own fair share of random matches – but there will always be more people to chat with. They have their preferences for chat partners, and you have yours; that’s just how it works.
Random chats are the perfect format for anyone with social anxiety
Speaking of getting passed over by potential chat partners, it’s important to note that this is much different from getting the cold shoulder from someone in person. If it happens during a random chat, nobody notices and nobody cares. If it happens in a social setting, though, it’s likely that plenty of people will notice, resulting in a considerable amount of awkwardness.
A lot of social anxiety is based on the fear of rejection. Whether you’re feeling nervous that your handshake won’t be reciprocated, or you hate public speaking because you always feel like disaster is one wrong word away, people with this kind of anxiety can end up avoiding social engagements completely because it’s just the easiest solution.
Random chatting still involves talking to strangers, but it offers something that in-person interactions don’t: an instantaneous exit strategy. Add to that the fact that there’s hardly ever more than one person around to see how you’re doing, and a lot of the pressure just disappears. You can talk with as many people as you want, and if you ever feel like everything’s gone wrong and you want to start over, you can! A fresh chat is ready at the click of a button. You get to talk with a new person who has no idea how awkward you sometimes are, and you can feel confident that you’ll never see the previous chatter again.
This isn’t just conjecture; some random chatters say that they started out with a lot of social anxiety, but they ended up becoming comfortable with everyday interactions thanks to the low-stress environment of random video chats.
There are always people online
Sometimes the cause of a sparse friend-group isn’t social anxiety; it could be due to a simple logistical problem. People who work unusual hours, have different schedules from their peer groups, or are simply too busy to meet new people can all have this problem. Given the choice between keeping their current job and having a more active social life, most people would stick with the job; but will that still seem like a good decision down the line? It isn’t exactly an easy choice to make – or to deal with.
If you try meeting people on a random chat site, however, you don’t have to worry about when you get off work, or making sure you show up on time. Pretty much every random chat site has at least a couple thousand members, with some sites boasting millions of monthly users. They come from all over the world, so you can enjoy the diversity in both culture and time zones. Everyone you know may be asleep at three in the morning, but thousands of people from different countries are wide awake and ready for new chat partners.
Video chatting can accommodate all kinds of activities
“Random video chatting” is essentially built for talking, but you have a lot of flexibility in that regard; there are all kinds of things that are compatible with the video chat format. For instance, think about how much effort a karaoke competition would entail. Not very much, right? About the same amount you’d need if you were doing it in person – just find some instrument-only tracks and start belting your favorite Elvis Presley numbers.
If karaoke isn’t your cup of tea, try games like 20 Questions, show off your figurine collections, or get your chat partner’s feedback on your latest DIY project. Use your imagination, and don’t be shy about experimenting!
What will you do during your next random video chat?
Even if you already have a great social life, you never know what you’re missing in the video chats until you try them! Whether you’ll be looking to make a real connection, or you just want some casual entertainment, you’ll have plenty of room to improvise – and plenty of ways to make friends.
