COMMUNICATION

Every time I log on to the Net, or turn on my TV, I find a new way to communicate with the outside world.

I must admit that I haven't really kept up with all of the new technological advances out there.----and really, I don't want to.
I'm not sure that I have a use for it all
Yes, my home-line telephones are cordless, interchangeable and have speaker base stations
Yes, I have a mobile / cell phone but it is basic with a camera
Yes, I do have a PVR (hard drive video recorder) and know how to use it.
Yes, I have video senders and receivers so that I can receive pay TV in any room in my house.
And yes I have two laptop computers with external hard drives, sound systems and printers.
But that's about as far as I go

I am on Facebook under my Clyde ID and my real name but I have not updated to the new version of it---but I love to read peoples updates and keeping up with their lives---(oh, if you want to add me, my email address there is seaside.clyde13@gmail.com).
And of course, I am, on blogger and do read your blogs fairly regularly.

But I thought I might try a chat room.
Why not---all these people from all over the world chatting away and making friends.

So I found this site called Omegle-----it all seemed very simple and quite civilized
There was a choice. You could text chat or video chat----just click on your choice.
Ok, easy---click Text
And there it was---a stranger from anywhere said Hi
Wonderful I thought as I typed in my Hi response.
But from there it was all down hill
The strangers next text was "ASL"
I Had no idea what that was, so I asked politely--"Sorry, what is ASL"
Back came their reply---"Are you new here"
Of course my answer was "Yes"
Back came "It's Age, Sex, Location"
I thought that was quite logical so I typed in "63 Male Australia" and sent it to my new found friend.
The next reply from the stranger was "Are you fuckin joking"
And when I said "no"---the next reply was "Fucking old pervert" and I was disconnected.
Not to be deterred by one stranger, I clicked in again and away we went
Stranger " m or f ?"
I thought--ha, I've got this now so I replied with "M"
Stranger "age"
Ok, that's easy so "63"
And I was disconnected again
Alright---lets try this again and I clicked in.
Stranger "Horny?"
Me "Why would you ask ?"
Stranger "kik"
Me "Sorry, I don't understand kik"
Stranger "Its a phone Ap"
Me "But I'm not on the phone"----and I was disconnected again
I thought that I would try one last time and give it a rest----maybe try another time of the day.
So I clicked in again
Stranger "Hello"
Me "Hello, how are you"
Stranger"I'm good but it's HRU"
Me "Hey, thanks for that, I'm 63 and new here"
Stranger "RU really 63"
Me "Of course, is there something wrong with that"
Stranger "RU an old pervert"
Me "No, I'm just trying a chat room to talk to people"

And that's when a lovely 15yo girl from Canada explained the facts of life to me.
Omegle and most other chat rooms are used by under 25s to sex chat to each other and get Skype and KIK contacts. Kik is a phone Ap where you can chat and video chat. "But why wouldn't you just chat here"---well, you find someone you might like then you Skype or Kik them-----"Ok, I guess that's ok, but why not just talk here"----well in chat rooms you are always a stranger and cant find each other again, but with Skype and Kik, you can keep in touch over and over------
And most of the Skpe and Kik chats involve exposing your body to each other and performing sexual acts.

So I asked this lovely 15yo if she thought that she might be a bit young to be doing that----she surprised me by telling me that most of the strangers she found were between 13 and 18-----with the occasional up to 25yo and a few old perverts.
Oh, and she told me that the video chat section of that room was mostly guys masturbating on camera.

I guess chat rooms aren't for me