Omegle Chat Website: How Students Meet Strangers (SmartSocial.com Guide for Parents and Educators)

SmartSocial.com's Omegle Guide for Parents and Educators: https://smartsocial.com/omegle/

What is Omegle chat?Users go to Omegle.com to instantly start a text or video chat with strangersVisitors can use keywords to find people with shared interestsCollege students can enter a .edu email address (which the site uses for verification) to find other studentsThere is also an “adult” sectionThe website is free to use and is available in multiple languagesA graphic on top of the website shows how many other users are online at any (it’s often 40,000+)Where is Omegle available?Omele.com is available on any web browserThe website shows users how to easily use add Omegle to the home screen of their phones to make it mobile-friendlyOmegle’s Privacy PolicyThere are several apps, include Omega in Google Play and OKAY in the iOS App Store, that have similar logos and offer the same random chat featuresWhy should parents care about Omegle?Age verification is not required to use OmegleThe website says all users must over 13It also says anyone under 18 should ask for parental permissionStrangers can easily ask for personal information, share explicit messages, or appear on screen nude Strangers often send usernames to connect on other apps, like Snapchat, Kik, and DiscordAlthough your student might feel like their chat is private, anyone can record their screen or take a screenshotOmegle.com offers “moderated” chats, but says “Moderation is not perfect. You may still encounter people who misbehave. They are solely responsible for their own behavior.”What can parents do?It’s important to not only tell your children not to visit sites like Omegle, but also to explain WHYYou can use settings or a parental monitoring app to block Omegle.com, but kids can often find ways around that (For example, visiting banned websites at a friend’s house)Teach your kids to never share personal information with strangers onlineRemind them about the dangers of meeting up with someone from the internet in real lifeTell them they can always come to you (or a trusted adult) if they ever feel uncomfortable about something that happened online

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