Internet chatting is popular especially among people under 16 years old. Many people argue if it is okay to talk to people on the computer. People that use websites like My Space, Twitter, Face Book, and all the other websites a lot of times lie about their age. Sometimes they say they are older or younger than what their real age is, so everyone must know the precautions to being on websites like that. When you talk to stranger it’s the person’s responsibility to know not to give too much information about them selves. I personally think it is okay for people under 16 years old to virtually chat with other people.
Using websites that is you are able to stay in touch with friends or a relationship. When you internet chat you don’t even need to talk to people you don’t know you can just talk to the people you know when you chat. There is an advantage to talking to strangers you can meet new people. You don’t even have to worry about the persons looks or how you look. While chatting get a different perspective on a certain subject. Sometimes while internet chatting kids can meet people and know more about the world by treating the people as like pen pals; also benefits shy kids because for some it is easier for them to talk to people. I personally use websites like My Space and face book and I talk to a friend that lives in Texas and mostly friends. Chatting is not a bad thing even if you are young but you have to know your boundaries.
But then there are disadvantages to internet chatting especially with people younger than 16. As a parent you can’t be sure who they are talking to the person could be a 30 year old man or a 12 year old girl. An officer made a test he made a page that he pretended he was a pretty 15 year old girl and he got a few messages that were from adult men that said to meet with them for sexual reasons. They got arrested. There are cyber predators out there kids in ages of 10-17 have usually receive a sexual solicitation. This was found by the University of New Hampshire. In some cases the stranger want to meet up with the person they chat with and there have been cases that one of the people is a lot order than the person said they were, and were expecting something more when they meant. While using internet chatting sites you have to be careful.
When people use my space and the other website they have to know their limits when they start talking to someone they don’t know at all. The person should try to not give their true identity. I recommend for parents to check up and talks to their kids too make sure they are safe using the internet. I think it is okay to talk to people on the computer using websites made for those people purposes. Talking through the internet is not a bad thing it is better if people try to stick with their age group when adding friends and being able to IM. There are worries of using those websites like cyber stalkers but that is why people especially under aged group to know the rules. There is a reason why we use websites to talk and meet people it is because most kids like to talk and stay in touch with friends and make friends as much as possible.