Shephard Participation 3 - Technopanic

Of the options of examples of sites that can be related to the phenomena of technopanics, I choose to experiment with Chatroulette. I had never before actually been on Chatroulette, but I have been hearing about it for years and always wanted to check it out for myself. It was one of those "Oh, I should really look at that cause everyone is talking about it" however I never actually managed to go on the site. After jumping around from webcam to webcam for about 30 min (its rather addicting isn't it?) I finally understood what all the fuss was about. I would say that about 60% of the people I "visited" were clearly undressed and looking for more than just a friendly hello or convo with a stranger. Obviously as soon as I caught a glimpse of bareskin (or more) I immediately pressed the "next" button. This, however, was no surprise to me... I've heard some hilarious horror stories of what people have seen while hopping around on Chatroulette, and luckily for me I didn't have any sort of scarring experience. Although, I can imagine that children of a certain age may be in for a surprise (or two, or three, or four) if they happened to end up on this site and "nexted" around a few people. On a less sexual and disturbing note, one of the best interactions I had was with a fellow from france! Luckily he had a shirt on, and wasn't looking for a peep show, just a nice interaction with stranger. At first, he was speaking in English, but when I saw his location was France, we began conversing in French! It was fun to get to practice my language skills with someone I had never met, nor will I most likely ever meet again. While it was definitely entertaining to check out for a bit (especially as homework!) I do not think I'll be a chatroulette regualr.