Chatrooms - the future of socialising or a web of lies?

The last couple of years have seen an explosion in the popularity of online chat-rooms and virtual communities.
Websites like MySpace, bebo.com and Facebook are used by hundreds of millions of people all over the world and they are a brilliant way of making friends, finding out what it’s like in other countries and telling people about yourself.

The thing that’s starting to make people worry, though, is that these sites are so huge and so easy to use that some people are finding ways to trick young people into meeting them, and then abusing them.
It’s very easy for someone to pretend they’re someone they’re not on the internet and if you give out too much personal information there’s a real danger that these people could track you down, either to your school or maybe even your home. Just because someone has a nice photo on their MySpace profile and says they’re an 18-year-old footballer, they could in fact be absolutely anyone. Just think carefully about what you are telling people in chat-rooms or putting in your blog and be very, very wary of meeting up with anyone you’ve been talking to over the net.

If you are suffering abuse, or know someone else who is, you can report abusers to a new organisation called the Virtual Global Taskforce, which is an online partnership of police and other agencies. It is well worth a look even if you aren’t being abused because there’s loads of really useful information on here.

And remember, it’s not just strangers who can cause you problems. There’s been a big rise in online bullying recently and it’s often people in the same class at school who are doing it. If you are suffering don’t keep it to yourself – tell someone.

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