Don't get me wrong when I say this, but I'm not exactly an IM nut. Sure, I enjoy an occasional instant messenger chat with my brother, who lives 600 miles away, but I don't get all the conversing people do via the web. I'm referring to the complete stranger chats and random conversations. Folks who don't even know each other are chatting on a whim. It's simply bizarre to me. Actually I don't even know if it should be aloud for individuals under the age of 18. God knows who some of these young, innocent kids are speaking with all too freely. I dread the notion of my child chatting with total strangers.
When I hear the words instant messenger chat, I can't help but think of one particular thing. Sexual predators out searching for their next victim. Now I realize it all began much more innocuous than this. AOL instant messenger chatting was a fad that began in the 90s and stirred the interest of gabby teenagers everywhere. Suddenly kids could hop on the web and converse any time they pleased with their close friends from school. Sounds great in theory. However, with the vast number of chat room available in cyberspace now days, every ilk of human being on this planet strikes up conversations with who ever they please. While this can be fine and dandy, it often isn't. As you may have seen on Dateline, there are countless sexual deviants out there looking for innocent prey. This particular news program sets up sting operations in order to catch sex offenders who use online messenger chat rooms to lure their victims. It is very successful and they've caught oodles of these guys in the act. Most of which claim they are not guilty. Go figure!
The next time your child or teenager gets on their laptop for a regular instant messenger chat after school or to surf through the plethora of chat rooms, you might want to keep an eye on who they converse with, and what is said. As sad as it is, far too many minors are duped this way. Granted the Internet can be a fun doorway into new worlds, it's also a dangerous window for criminals to sneak in.
|
