A field guide to the weird and wonderful world of online chatrooms.
In 2016, the Pew Research Center released a study of living arrangements for young adults in the United States. The central finding? For the first time in modern history, more young people are living with their parents than in any other living arrangement. Here’s what that means for online communication.
There are plenty of places you can use live video to chat with your friends, family, and anyone else online. But despite the fact that video chatting has been around for a long time, and is now a high-tech, superior form of communication, some people still need convincing. If that sounds like you (or a friend of yours), we’re here to bust some of the myths you might have heard about video chat.
Today we say goodbye to AIM, that bastion of creativity, connectivity, and adolescent tomfoolery that helped bring so many of us into the digital age in a meaningful way. Whether you were a tech-savvy early adopter or a curious, socially awkward kid, when AOL Instant Messenger launched in 1997, there was a place for you (and your terrible screen name).
Let’s be honest. Getting older can be lonely, especially if you live by yourself. Maybe you’ve had a loss recently, or the kids have all moved out, or you’ve finally retired and have too much time on your hands. Worst of all, it feels like you haven’t made a new friend since you were thirty.There are plenty of good reasons why it’s hard to find friends later in life, but top of the list is that there just isn’t enough time for everything at middle age. On average, we spend more than 40% of our waking life working. For those with spouses or families, most of the leftover hours go to them. Any large group of friends you might have had diminishes significantly over time, as children grow up, loved ones pass away, and old friends fade with distance or unavoidable life changes. If you are over 40, chances are that you’re spending more time alone year after year. By the time you pass middle age, alone is your default state.All isn’t lost, though.
As a tool of connection, video chat has no equal. It is immediate, aural, and visual — qualities that liken it to face-to-face interaction, a strong recommendation to our social natures. Unlike audio and text chat, video chat demonstrates our conversational partner’s physical existence, independent of their physical presence. We look them in the two-dimensional electronic representation of an eye and know that, somewhere in the world, they exist.That is a truly modern experience.
Well, here we are. Game of Thrones is nearly back to rip out our guts, put them in a heap, light them on fire, dance in the flames, and go. Surprisingly, this process Season 6 was relatively painless. Sure, we had some emotional devastation courtesy of magic time travel nonsense and a couple of bummer arrows, but all in all, it seems we’re in a good place embrace the pain again. Still, it’s a rough life in Westeros, what with the backstabbing and the death and the inefficient communication systems, so we thought we’d take a stab (pun very much intended) at improving at least one of those.
Goddess of all, queen of the beautiful people, and just plain rockstar Beyoncé spends a lot of time preaching goodness and love. She’s a tireless supporter of positive self-image, fierce and earnest kindness, and people supporting people. No matter where she is or whom she is talking to, she never fails to bring some wisdom to the situation. So here are a few wise words from Queen Bey herself on how you should behave in chat rooms (because you know she was totally talking about chat rooms).
Back for our third week, we have a #PaltalkLoveStory from Kiddo (paltech) and lil_miss_snippy, together for 6 years! If you have a Paltalk Love Story, share @paltalk on Twitter with the hashtag #PaltalkLoveStory.
Here’s our second #PaltalkLoveStory, featuring Merlin and Angel, together for 11 years! If you have a Paltalk love story for us, find us on Twitter @paltalk with the hashtag #PaltalkLoveStory.
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