The Chatroulette craze has gotten a ton of exposure on the internet and television.
In all of the discussions the focus seems to be on the darker side of this online chat platform.
I am left to wonder, after taking some time to think about what I have observed and read, is Chatroulette just another form of pornography? I would venture to say at this point that the majority of Chatroulette online users are men.
Combine that with the fact that a great many of the encounters in this online chat forum involve some sort of nudity and inappropriate behavior and we have a trend.
This in and of itself certainly doesn't constitute pornography, but when users go to the Chatroulette site for the sole purpose of seeing some form of nudity or exhibitionist behavior, then I think we creep a bit closer to what could be considered pornography.
I've written before about how this online chat software has created headaches for parents.
I've also written that Chatroulette really can be a form of harmless fun when used by responsible, consenting adults.
Reports about Chatroulette focus primarily on the seedy nature of the forum.
This is what attracts people, this is what gets the most attention.
This is a larger sign of the direction our society is going.
If there isn't some form of controversy associated with a story, there is no interest.
So while it might be fun to log on to Chatroulette and have a conversation with some random stranger, it is far more exciting for many people to see or do something that most would consider "dirty" or "naughty"...
much like someone who would visit a pornography site for much the same reason.
While Chatroulette may not perfectly fit into the definition, an argument can be made that there are strong connections.
Time will tell if this phenomenon will evolve into anything more than a place where people come to take screenshots of seedy behavior.