I Gazed Lovingly Into Strangers’ Eyes on ‘Eyechat’

I’ve been staring into the eyes of strangers from around the world: squinting and squinching, raising my eyebrows, opening them wide in mock shock then smizing. A thin bar of video feed shows another person’s peepers, gazing back at mine from an undisclosed location.

When developer Neal Agarwal saw the demise of video chatting site Omegle last year, he mourned the whimsy of the old internet, and created Eyechat, a live video pairing site that matches your eyes with another’s from somewhere around the world. 

“I’ve always loved experimenting with ways of connecting strangers on the internet in ways that might feel a little awkward,” Agarwal told me. “When Omegle shut down, I started to wonder what the minimum amount of video contact was that would still feel meaningful. An eyes only chat service felt like a good fit for minimizing abuse but also keeping some human connection.” 

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