It takes a lot, from an Internet perspective, to shock me.
But, tonight, for the first time in a long time, I can say, “wow, now I’m scared for my kids.”
My personal guru of Internet technology is a VC in New York named Fred Wilson.
He blogged the other day about a site called Chatroulette.
So, I checked it out. Warning: Not Safe For Work.
Basically, you log on and are randomly connected (mostly via a camera) to people around the world.
The idea, in its purest sense, is a great one…meet people to expand your universe.
In practice, however, it’s just a depressing commentary on society.
The number of people (mostly young guys) on there who are either naked, semi-naked, or doing obscene things (two guys masturbating, for example) is mind-boggling.
I was connected to someone who just raised his middle finger to me and said “Fuck you. Go fuck yourself.”
Then, a room full of teenage boys who started making fun of the way that I look (granted, an easy target).
I failed to have one meaningful interaction. Granted, after 10 minutes, I was just revolted and felt like I was wasting my life.
Still, it’s out there…and many others like it, I am sure. There’s no use fighting it and you can’t block it, so it just made me realize how important it is to inculcate strong values into our kids.
BTW, there’s a piece in the Sunday NY Times on it with the founder, a 17 year old in Moscow.
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