The internet is amazing. You could buy Sarah Palin’s executive jet on eBay (though no one did). You can provide important financial assistance to the widow of a Nigerian oil minister who is down on her luck. You can find the infant from the bassinet next to you, and reminisce about your first day out of the womb.
Now, you can also chat in real time with complete strangers.
Omegle is the brainchild of someone with far too much time on his hands. Click on the bare-bones site and you’re instantly connected with someone, somewhere, as random and bored as you.
I tried it out. The first connection, in Holland, spoke better English than I, but had nothing interesting to say.
The second person’s first question was “m?” (Are you male?) When I said yes, he — I’m assuming it was a guy — disconnected me.
The third was in “Binghanton, NY.” I had no desire to chat with someone who could not spell his own hometown correctly.
But I started thinking: Why not bring Omegle to the micro — Westport — level?
Imagine connecting with another Westporter you might otherwise never know. Instead of cutting him off in her SUV, a young mom might converse with an 80-year-old retiree. A laid-off banker could talk to a laid-off store clerk.
A kid named Finch could become friendly with an older woman who calls herself Stifler’s mom.
On second thought, go answer that email from Nigeria.
