Why aren't we using webcams to see others face to face?

Some people like to stay anonymous.

plus they’ll see me picking my nose!

But part of the Internet is that we don’t have to let people see our faces. I could be gorgeous or ugly, you don’t know (well, actually, you do, but in theory) so you have to pay attention to what I say. It makes how we look an even playing field. I think almost everyone likes that.

i only video chat with people that im really close to, like my boyfriend and my best friend, i would with my family, but they are computer illiterate.

I could be having a really bad hair day even though fluther says i’m not I think it is the anonymity of it all. I only do it with people I actually know in real life, weird how that works

But I can remember how, at the last World’s Fair, the “Video Phone” (along with touch tone dialing) was the hot thing of the future.

We’re not using a video phone because of our appearance? ALL the time? Can’t be.

Because online I’m 6’5” with a six pack and a face prettier than a California sunset.

People can and do use webcams to communicate. I haven’t used any of the web-based video chat services like Stickam, but they do exist.

But, it’s a good question. Perhaps a better phrasing would be “why isn’t webcam chat a more ubiquitous technology like cell phones?” I would guess because 1) it’s not necessary to see someone’s face in order to communicate with them, and 2) cell phones are mobile. Mobile technology wins out any day.

Because I fluther naked. I don’t want people drooling on their keyboards.

Not really.

Because you can (practically) only videochat with one person at the time (when I’m IM’ing, now and then there are several chat windows open in isolated conversations).

Because our (my) computers are too slow to make it a comfortable experience (especially if you want to do other stuff).

Because another person’s face really isn’t that interesting to look at.

When using a webcam the person you are interacting with expects your full attention just as if you are talking with them in a socal setting.

When I am on line I am multi- tasking and only have tiny slices of time for hit-and-run posts
—like this one—

Not everyone has a webcam, no matter how cheap the cams are. I’ve done it, most of the time sending my picture but being blind to the other person. There was only one situation where we both had cams. In any case, usually we don’t look at the camera, because we are looking at the screen. Until they make a camera that can video through our screens, straight into our eyes, we’ll all look weird.

I’ve only done it with people in my family, or who are my closest friends. I do not want people I have never met seeing me, especially if I can’t see them. I also do not want it to happen in a place like fluther where I value my anonymity above anything else.

2-way video is easy enough to do through Skype, etc. On a message board like this, all of the video feeds would quickly bog down the server. Even with enough capacity, web hosting companies charge by bandwidth usage, and live video is just too expensive for most site operators to afford.

@IchtheosaurusRex , good point. So the technology is NOT really there yet like I thought.

because if most people are like me, they are on the computer while looking their worst.
and if they are looking good, they are camwhoring it up on stickam already!

Sadly, Chimp, it isn’t. It will be, if good prevails over evil, but the Internet is such a swamp I don’t think it will ever be drained.

Because that’s the beauty of online social networking… You can look hideous with your hair all crazy and your pajamas still crusted with oatmeal, and nobody will notice!

I struggle with this question as well – I actually run a personal training business that trains people via webcam – once people start, they love it…. But up until that first session I have to at least make a phone call / personal meeting before they will be up for it:

http://jamieatlas.wordpress.com/2008/06/26/to-foolishly-go-where-no-personal-trainer-has-gone-before/