Advantages and disadvantages of chat rooms?

Answer 1

Disadvantages:

Even if you've been chatting to the same person for ages and you feel like you know them, remember it's very easy to lie on the internet and there is no way of knowing if someone is telling the truth. Even if someone shows you a photo of themselves, this could be a picture of someone else or could be faked. This applies to webcam or video footage too; seeing a person in a video, does not mean it's them.

Be careful not to share too much information with other people in chat rooms. You don't know who could be listening in or what they might do with that information. If you wouldn't be comfortable yelling it out in a crowded room, it's best not to write it in a chat room.

There are some adults who will try to get in touch with young people and children because they have bad intentions. Bear this in mind whilst you use chat areas. If anything makes you suspicious tell an adult you trust or report any serious concerns to us using our reporting button.

Make sure you know how to block Instant Messaging contacts. They will not be told you have blocked them; you will just appear offline in their contacts list, so they cannot message you. Don't forget you can always delete a contact if you don't wish to talk to them anymore.

It's also a good idea to learn how to save conversations. This way, if anything weird or dodgy happens, you have evidence of it and you can show it to an adult you trust or copy and paste it into our reporting form.

If you think someone has hacked into your account - report it to the people who run the site.

Look out for this icon on other websites. This means that you can report abuse directly to CEOP from those sites. For example, MSN Live Messenger has a tab with this icon on it.

Advantages:

It's a fantastic way of getting in touch with friends and family, and meeting new people. Unlike in a chat room where everyone can see what everyone else is writing, with IM, you can chat privately. People can be added or removed from conversations so you can talk in groups. IM is a really quick and easy way to share files like photos, music or web links and you can customise your settings to personalise you area. It's cool cos you can change your status to be away, busy or do not disturb, etc. You can even appear offline when you are online; sneaky!

Answer 2

The advantages of chat room is that people from various geographical location socialize with each other remotely. The disadvantage of the chat room is that many people lie and solicit for sex from the young people including minors.