Talk to strangers in the USA

America's doctor said it out loud

In May 2023 the US Surgeon General, Dr Vivek Murthy, did something unusual for the nation's top doctor: he issued a formal public-health advisory about loneliness. Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation reported that about half of American adults say they experience loneliness, and that the health effect of being socially disconnected is comparable to smoking up to fifteen cigarettes a day. The prescription was not a pill. It was, in large part, more conversation - including with the people we do not know.

None of this means a chat with a stranger is therapy. It is not. But the evidence that small, ordinary conversations matter is strong enough that the federal government put its name to it. TalkLive is built for exactly that small, ordinary kind: a voice on the line at the end of a long day, someone who asks where you are calling from and actually wants to know.

You will learn more than you expect

One reason people do not talk to strangers is that they assume they will not get much out of it. In a series of studies published in PNAS in 2022, the researchers Sandra Atir, Xuewei Wang and Nicholas Epley found that people consistently underestimate how much they will learn from a conversation with a stranger - and how much they will enjoy it. The surprise, in other words, is built in.

Studs Terkel, the Chicago broadcaster who spent decades interviewing ordinary Americans for books like Working (1974), would not have been surprised at all. He made a career out of the conviction that everyone has a story worth hearing if you ask the right question and then stop talking. He signed off his radio show the same way for years:

"Take it easy, but take it."Studs Terkel's sign-off on WFMT Chicago

A country that is never all asleep

The United States runs across Eastern, Central, Mountain and Pacific time on the mainland, plus Alaska and Hawaii, and most of it springs forward and falls back for daylight saving - except Hawaii and most of Arizona, which do not. So there is no single "American evening". There is a wave that rolls west.

Here is the useful, slightly counter-intuitive part. TalkLive's busiest hours worldwide, measured from our own match counts, fall between 15:00 and 21:00 UTC - when South Asia and Europe are out in force. For Americans, that is late morning to afternoon. The classic American "late-night call" hours, roughly 8 pm to 1 am Eastern, land in the quietest stretch of the whole site.

You will still find people in the evening - Americans search a lot then - but the shortest waits are earlier in the day. If an evening search takes a while, widen your country filters or switch to text chat. And if you are outside the US hoping for an American match, the US evening is when they are most likely to be looking.

The format you already know - minus the camera

Plenty of Americans met strangers online for the first time on Omegle, which ran from 2009 until its founder shut it down in November 2023, saying the fight against people misusing it had become unsustainable. Most of that misuse ran through the webcam. TalkLive keeps the good part - one tap, one random person, a Next button - and drops video entirely. It is voice or text, it is for adults 18 and over only, and every screen has Report and Block. Our Omegle alternative page explains the rest.

Everyone wants to practise with an American

For millions of English learners, the English they grew up hearing in films, music and online is American English - contractions, slang, "gonna" and all - and a real conversation with an American is the practice they cannot get in a classroom. If you are matched with a learner, slowing down a little and asking whether they want corrections makes the call better for both of you. Our English speaking practice guide has ideas.

It works the other way too. More than forty million people in the US speak Spanish at home, and TalkLive's interface is available in Spanish. Sport, music, work, travel plans and whatever the internet is arguing about this week are all good ground; politics is best left until you know your match wants to go there.

Keep it friendly, keep it safe

The Federal Trade Commission's advice fits random chat perfectly: no real business or government agency will ever ask you to pay with gift cards, cryptocurrency or a wire transfer, and anyone who does is running a scam. Be careful with people who profess strong feelings very quickly, ask for photos, or want to move to another app in the first five minutes. Keep your full name, address, workplace and social handles to yourself.

On TalkLive, tap Report or Block on anyone abusive; blocked people are not matched with you again.

1. 1Open TalkLive in your browser. No app, no sign-up.
2. 2Optional: prefer the United States in Filters (two preferred countries are free).
3. 3Tap to Talk for voice, or Tap to Chat to type.
4. 4Ask where they are calling from. Tap Next whenever you like.

For a wider view, the Journal's One Evening, Two Continents looks at how North and South America share their nights. See also our guide to the United Kingdom.