Tinychat seems to capitalize off of its simplicity. The website (similar in aesthetics to the Twitter site) is extremely easy to navigate and doesn't overwhelm the viewer with a lot of unnecessary frills. The service offers verbal, audio, and video communication options in a simple, no-download-required format. The main page boasts that the chat rooms they host are both "free" and "disposable." They provide users with a simple URL directing them to temporary "conference rooms" for up to 400 people, with up to 12 live A/V streams at once (www.tinychat.com/about.) A second option is P2P (Person to Person), used for private and encrypted one-on-one communication, similar to Skype's services. Finally, there is Tinychat Next, which promotes the following benefits:
- Meet new people with ease
- Maybe find someone you like
- You never know who you'll see next
- 100% free
Although the services provided by Tinychat are fun and potentially useful, they also give me a couple of causes for concern. First of all, the site seems directed at young people. It's scary to think that a kid could sign in to Tinychat Next and connect to a live video feed with complete strangers. I went through the sign-up process--the site asked for my date of birth and I entered 1995 so that I could see how they would handle an underage registration. It didn't make a difference! Yes, there was a disclaimer stating their intolerance of nudity, etc., but those rules usually seem to be easily broken. Now, most kids I know have desktops in their rooms or laptops that they can take anywhere they like. I realize that--if these kids really wanted to--they could connect with strangers, with or without the assistance of Tinychat; but, I also don't think they should be able to access something that will make it so completely easy for them to do so. When I Googled "tinychat," the first item that automatically popped up was "tinychat girls." After clicking on the suggestion, I was directed to YouTube videos of Tinychat sessions in which females were dancing sexually for the males in the session. Several other videos were named things like "Booty Dancing on Tinychat" and "Best Booty on Tinychat"-- all of these featured girls/women (I can't quite determine their ages) shaking their butts, usually wearing only a skimpy top and underwear. Still, there were other Tinychat videos-- most notably, several editions of the "Tinychat Strip Game." WHOA! Where were the idyllic friendly "conference room" videos? The innocently advertised "getting-to-know-new-people" scenarios? The clothing? *Shriek!*
My other concern is something that has actually bothered me for a while now: How is all of this technology affecting our real relationships? The computer age has given us some pretty amazing resources. In many ways, it has made life MUCH easier and more efficient. When I first found out about MySpace and Facebook, I was in awe. In the beginning, I thought it was so much fun to customize my MySpace profile with design templates and my favorite music. It was nice to see a couple of old friends on Facebook and to send and receive a few funny "bumper stickers" here and there; but the novelty quickly wore off, and both of these sites became kind of invasive and irritating. Suddenly the MySpace flair just seemed like a bunch of crap that slowed my computer down, and connecting with the old "friends" from Facebook just reminded me why we had "lost" touch in the first place.
For me, the problem with these networking sites was that I didn't really need them. I didn't need to rekindle friendships that didn't have the spark to last in the first place. I didn't need to make a bunch of "pseudo plans" for dinner and drinks to catch up with people (especially when we could "catch up" by reading each other's profiles--saving us both a few hours and approximately $50 in bar or restaurant tabs.) Most importantly, I definitely didn't need to make any new friends on the Internet. I think it takes a great deal of energy to be a quality friend to the real people in your life, and I just never wanted to waste time with intangible cyber friends. This is all based on my personal experience-- I'm sure that social networks work well for a lot of people, but (to me) it can be a little overwhelming. That's why I found it interesting that, in his book, The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom, Yochai Benkler suggests that the trend of online relationships is that they develop in addition to--not instead of-- traditional, physical interaction.
Benkler discusses two effects of the Internet on social relations. The first effect is a "thickening of preexisting relations with friends, family, and neighbors, particularly with those who were not easily reachable in the pre-Internet-mediated environment" (357). This effect is one of the positive aspects of virtual communication. Parents and their children can text back and forth; a grandparent in Florida can Skype (or Tinychat) with their granddaughter in London; I can send a video of my chihuahua being adorable to anyone in my phone's contact list-- all in an instant. When this amazing technology is used for "thickening" relationships, it is undoubtedly incredibly impressive and beneficial.
The second effect Benkler points out is the "emergence of greater scope for limited-purpose, loose relationships." He then states that these relationships "certainly do not fit a deep conception of 'community' as a person's primary source of emotional context and support." Benkler argues, however, that they are "nonetheless effective and meaningful to their participants" (357). I agree that, for some individuals, these "limited-purpose" relationships are probably fulfilling; however, I'm not sure that's a positive thing. I know several people who are slaves to their computers. They habitually choose their online community over their tangible community, and they seem to prefer simulated reality to actual reality. I wouldn't see this as a problem if it weren't for the fact that these same people also tend to appear generally unhappy.
The appeal of an online identity is very seductive. A person can create a new personality, maybe just tweak the one they already have. You can be a different version of yourself and anonymity will protect you. The anonymity can also make virtual friends seem more appealing than real friends-- I mean, what are the odds that a virtual friend will ask you to help them move? I understand the attraction. However, I think there has to be a balance between the two worlds in order to get the most out life-- both the real and the virtual variety.
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