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Having a boring social life is a bit like having an outdated wardrobe. All the familiar choices may have served you well so far, but just a few new options will go a long way towards revamping the whole thing. If you’ve been feeling the need for a change in your social life, the answer could be closer than you think.
Cam chatting doesn’t have quite the same vibe as visiting a cool new bar, but it’s certainly a lot more versatile – and way easier on your wallet. Chat sites like Chatrandom let you meet people from all over the world, and you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home. Interested in learning more? Keep reading to see some practical examples.
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New friendships could expand your social circles
There are all kinds of friends. Some of them are the “let’s get coffee” kind, while others get a standing invitation for pizza night every Friday. If you’re talking about online friends, they could be the kind you meet in a random chat, have a great time talking with, and then leave. Or, they could be the kind you keep up with over the long term, getting to know each other through text and video chats.
The typical random chat experience is more likely to give you short-term friendships. After all, that’s pretty much what anonymous chatting is for; it’s unlikely that most of these chats would have the potential for anything else. But what happens when you think one of them would?
Depending on the chat site you’re using (not all of them offer the option), you could stay connected with previous chat partners. Just because you can’t visit in person doesn’t mean you can’t spend plenty of time together; all you have to do is get a little creative when you’re hanging out on a video chat.
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Your social confidence could get an upgrade
Some people want more variety in their social life, but their low confidence levels make it tough to get there. As it happens, random video chatting offers a two-pronged solution to this one.
First, you can mingle with people online, which makes it a lot easier to get some human interaction in without the commitment. If you ever end up in a chat you don’t like, just hit the “next” button to be matched up with another chat partner. This also applies to any chat you feel you’ve messed up; rather than wishing for a hole in the ground to open up and carry you away, you can simply exit the chat. Problem solved.
Second, it’s likely that you’ll slowly become more confident in the way you interact with other people. Since there’s less pressure to get everything right on a video chat, this will hopefully shift your focus away from potential disasters, and towards the current conversation. While in-person interactions may always be a bit more intimidating, you could find that your social confidence actually improves as a result of random video chatting.
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It’s basically impossible not to meet people you like
Unless you’re the world’s pickiest person, your chances of having fun while random video chatting are quite high. It certainly helps that any given chat site probably has several thousand active users; you could stay online for hours on end without repeating any of your chat partners.
Not only that, but you can skip anybody you don’t like in order to find the ones you do. Even if you’re in the middle of a chat, it’s perfectly acceptable to make a swift exit in search of a new chat partner. You might spend a little while searching between chats, but finding the right people is usually worth the effort.
If you wanted to make it even more fun, you could use extra settings like filters or search bars. Country or gender filters are pretty popular; the site you’re on could also offer filters that sorted by age, city, or even hobbies. Regardless of what you’re after on a video chat site, there are plenty of ways to find it.
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Online chat rooms lend a sense of community
Random video chatting does the trick for most people, but sometimes you want a less haphazard option. Enter chat rooms. Whether you’re a college student, a member of the LGBTQ community, or a Star Wars fan, there are plenty of chat room options that would be the perfect fit – you just have to find the right video chat site. While you’ll still be mixing with a bunch of strangers, it’ll feel different than the random chats, because you all have something in common with each other.
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Even your real-life friendships could benefit
Random video chats, and online friendships, in particular, present a unique challenge: how can you keep things feeling fun and exciting when everything has to happen over a webcam? If you can let your creativity loose and come up with some inventive solutions, you won’t just be helping your online interactions; you could use those same strategies with all your friends.
Here’s an example. Say you and your friends haven’t gotten together in forever; you’re all too busy to make plans for an entire evening. Aside from actual events, it’s hard to find the time to simply hang out. But what about video chats? Instead of waiting until everybody can get together, you can simply “share” a meal via a group video call, and spend some time catching up with each other. If you’re into games, there are plenty of options that don’t require any equipment. Have your friends pitch in with their ideas too. It isn’t a perfect system, but it can certainly help everyone feel more connected.
Will you use random video chats as a source of entertainment or a way to boost your social skills? Trick question – you can use it for both! If you’re doing one of these, the other is sure to follow.
