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Chat Rooms Of Today

Updated on January 8, 2011
LowellWriter profile image

LA is a creative writer from the greater Boston area of Massachusetts.

Do you use chat rooms?

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A/S/L?

You enter a chat room and immediately five people send you an instant message. “A/S/L” they write. As the room you have just entered is not a dating related room, it’s bizarre that they would ask for your age, sex and location. It is even weirder still that they would follow these questions with a request for a personal picture. No matter how many times you tell them that you’re essentially not buying what they are selling, these five people are replaced by duplicates. The longer you stay in the room, the more instant messages you receive. Finally, having had enough, you sign out of the room. Chat rooms just aren’t what they used to be.

A little over ten years ago when I first logged into a chat room things were run differently. You’d enter. You’d send a general greeting out to everyone. You’d sit back and read what people were writing. Once having gathered enough nerve, you'd join the conversation and hope for the best. Thanks to these early chat rooms, I’ve made some great, lasting friendships. While I’ve yet to meet the bulk of them, it feels good to know that, were I to travel to their state, I’d have someone I could spend time with and feel safe with and vice versa.

Today, everyone seems to be chasing the dream of finding their true love. While a theatre or movie chat room used you to be a place to socialize and compare notes, it has become mucked up by members entering links to their private, adult websites and requests for a specific aged person to contact them for a specific, non G-rated purpose. Any instant message you receive is more than likely to be from someone who wants more than conversation so I would suggest you ignore it…unless you’re into that type of thing.

While I understand and sympathize for the people who are searching everywhere for love, I doubt you’ll find it in a modern day chat room. I am aware of the lucky souls who have found love online and are celebrating wedding anniversaries. Yet, for every beautiful story you hear, you can’t forget about the overwhelming amount of horror stories. Trusting individuals who thought they were meeting up with the friendly, charming person they spoke to online that are never heard from again. There are people who meet up with their cyber someone and are swindled out of money. The tamest scenario is how people lie about their appearance to appear more appealing and, once they meet up, blame the other person for having false expectations about them instead of apologizing for their lies. The internet gives you far too many opportunities to embellish and deceive. While convenient, a chat room is not the place to go to begin a rewarding romantic relationship. It’s too risky nowadays.

I steer clear of chat rooms now. Besides no longer having time to spare, I also know in advance the type of conversation that I’ll find. When it comes down to it, there are many desperate, sad people out in the real world who will do anything for attention. There are also strangers with unclean minds who seek to cause harm. If you wouldn’t want to spend your afternoon in a function room with them, why would you want to spend it in a chat room with them?

This content reflects the personal opinions of the author. It is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and should not be substituted for impartial fact or advice in legal, political, or personal matters.

© 2009 L A Walsh

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