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Are Chat Rooms A Menace To Your Children?
By T. O' Donnell, Fri Dec 9th
My answer would be: yes, with qualifications. I've been running internet since 1998, at http://www.tigertom.com/chat_rooms.htm. Nothing fancy. The software was freelyavailable. I just had to make some important modifications:adding bad word filters and automated 'kicking' (ejection fromthe rooms). You think free speech is a good thing, until you read whatanonymous, malevolent young men say to fifteen-year-old girls.It isn't Shakespeare, let me tell you that.
That's another key point: anonymity. A pillar of the free speechargument. Let freedom fighters and the repressed masses havetheir say! Except it's more likely a twenty-five-year-oldsociopath pretending to be sixteen and making young girls crywith his sickening profanity. Free from all morés, and safe from physical retribution, we seethe contents of the subconscious pour forth unrestrained. And ahellish stream of psychic sewage it is. This can be combated by bad word filters and having humanmoderators. The most important shield of all, I think, iseducation. "Don't take candy from strangers", "You don't needdrugs until you're ill", and now: "Don't bandy words withtrolls" (people who deliberately upset other internet users withprovocative language). Most now have an 'ignore' function. It's a bit likethe hooligan in the street: he's *looking* for a reaction; ifyou ignore him, it's infuriating. To him. You glide on by,figuratively speaking, while he rants on unheard. Parents should take an interest in what their children are doingonline. See if you
can find out what service they've joined, andjoin up yourself; get a taste of it. Teenagers define themselvesas adults-to-be by choosing a different path to their parents:if you are conservative, they'll try liberalism, and vice-versa. Therefore, you shouldn't try to join in with their activities asan equal; just keep informed. They may gripe, but secretly they're glad you care. A parent wholets their child do whatever they want gives them no standard tomeasure themselves against. Another problem with basic is that you can develop anintense relationship with someone you can't see and haven't metin the flesh; there's a fantasy element. Your thoughts pourforth freely, you believe you've met a soul mate. You may evenmeet them, and the illusion continues ... ... until you eventually realise he or she is just a human beingafter all, and breaks wind like everyone else. There is hope, however. With the advent of cheap digital videocameras, internet telephony and broadband, people will be lessable to hide: "What do you mean, you're shy? You weren't shy aminute ago!". Old-fashioned, sensible prejudices will assertthemselves: "Soooo, 'Zorro' from Cambridge is really fat, spottyDarren from Dartford ... next!". eap digital video cameras,internet telephony and broadband, people will be less able tohide: "What do you mean, you're shy? You weren't shy a minuteago!". Old-fashioned, sensible prejudices will assertthemselves: "Soooo, 'Zorro' from Cambridge is really fat, spottyDarren from Dartford ... next!". About the author:T. O' Donnell http://www.ttchat.co.uk is an ecommerce consultantin London, UK. His latest project is a freeware loan calculator,available at http://www.tigertom.com/personal-loans-uk.shtml.
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