The Internet has been invaluable in permitting people from around the globe to talk to each other. One of the easiest ways for people to communicate online is through a chat room. Chat rooms are designated areas where people with similar interests can come together to talk. The conversations happen in real time. By simply typing with your keyboard, you can talk to someone on the other side of the world.

Most of the major Internet service providers have their own chat rooms. Within the chat room area are different sections for various interests. Almost every topic you can think of is covered in some chat room, from stamp collecting to kangaroo breeding in Australia’s outback. The ability to learn about different cultures from around the world in now no more than a mouse click away.

Within a chat room, there may be a moderator who monitors the content of the conversation in order to prevent abuse. There has been some controversy over the use of moderators within chat rooms. Many people consider a moderator to be an infringement of their privacy.

Moderators have been known to shut down a conversation if the content is deemed unacceptable or inflammatory. In a recent case regarding America Online (AOL), a moderator shut down a heated debate over Irish politics between two people in a chat room. AOL monitored the conversation and shut down the chat room to give the participants time to calm down.

The controversy arose because people must pay AOL to receive their service as an Internet provider. You would not expect a telephone company to listen in to your phone calls and shut them down if they did not approve of the content. Many people think this privacy rule should also be applied to conversations in a chat room.

A chat room is a way to learn, talk and socialize, but there is a flip side. The fact that it is easy to be anonymous has lead to abuse of the system. Children and teens love chat rooms, and reports of the dangers of chat rooms are widespread. There are many irresponsible adults who use chat rooms anonymously for their own entertainment. Parents need to be aware of who their children are talking to within chat rooms.

There have also been reports that chat rooms lead to social interaction problems. Long hours spent alone using chat rooms have been thought to lead to poor social skills. By relying on chat rooms as one's only form of communication with others, social skills can deteriorate. If the chat room is used responsibly, however, it can be a fun and useful tool. It is when the virtual world is used as a substitute for the real world that problems may occur.