Though the site has been around for more than a decade (it was founded in 2009, a few months before Chatroulette, by the tech entrepreneur Leif K-Brooks, who was 18 at the time and did not respond to a request for an interview), it has recently seen a resurgence, particularly with teenagers feeling alienated by months of remote learning and limited face-to-face socializing. There is also, predictably, an “adult” section. edu email address, which the site uses for verification, to find other students. Visitors can submit keywords to filter for people with shared interests. (“did i miss something why is everyone on omegle?” one person recently tweeted.) The site is similar to the once wildly popular Chatroulette, which is also experiencing a renaissance of sorts, in that it is free, requires no registration and promises a surprising social experience. Omegle, a website that pairs random visitors through video and text chat, has spiked in popularity over the last four months. Now, months later and with no sign of the virus’ end in sight, it seems we’ve reached the taking-to-strangers online stage of boredom and isolation. There were raves, meetings, meditations and movie nights, all of which took place on the internet. Then everyone became a gamer, inviting visitors to their virtual islands and sending friends digital gifts. First there was the Zoom boom, followed quickly by Zoom fatigue.
