Is Online Chat With Strangers Safe?

Why People Chat With Strangers Online

There are many reasons people chat with strangers online. It could be as simple as wanting to meet someone new or as complex as needing to work through a personal problem secretly. Another reason is happiness. Human beings are social animals, and the more friends we have, the better we feel—even if those friends include weak ties developed online. In one study about talking in person with strangers, researchers confirmed that communicating with strangers increases feelings of happiness. 

The internet provides new opportunities to meet this need, and chatting with strangers is a popular way for people to socialize. When a person is isolated, they can miss opportunities, forget how to have a good conversation, or begin experiencing depression. In addition, talking with strangers can be informative, expand what we know about the world, and lead to new opportunities. 

The influence of social media has broken down many barriers and concerns adults taught us as children about the potential dangers of talking to strangers. However, talking to strangers is something internet users of all ages are engaging in, whether they are teens or adults. Studies have found 16 %  of teens have online friends that they or their friends do not know in real life, and 12 % of adults began a committed relationship by meeting their partner online.  

The concept of anonymity is also often crucial when chatting with strangers. If a person struggles with something deeply personal, they may be reluctant to speak to someone in person. Talking about one’s problems often seems more manageable when we hide behind the seeming safety of an online avatar. 

However, while it may be fun to chat with strangers online, sometimes there are deeper issues behind the desire to do so, such as loneliness, isolation, or depression. Addressing these underlying issues can reduce the urge to chat with strangers. In addition, reducing online social interaction may minimize the risk of encountering dangers such as a security breach or being bullied.

Dangers Of Chatting With Strangers Online

Most people know that giving away your home address or saying too much about your personal life is risky when talking to a stranger. For this reason, parents are encouraged to only let their children use the Internet with adult supervision. There are also a growing number of apps and services to monitor a child’s web activity or prevent them from accessing certain websites without adult authorization.

We often hear about children and teens bullying online, but this can happen to adults, too. There are some alarming facts regarding online abuse, such as internet predators targeting people in online stranger chat sessions. About 59 % of young adults and teens have experienced online abuse or harassment. 

How To Stay Safe Chatting Online

The critical thing in chats with strangers is to ensure an abusive user cannot carry their actions off the website. Refraining from giving out individual information, including phone numbers, real names, locations, and emails, can minimize the danger. Another thing adults can learn from online safety guidelines for children is to be careful about what photos they post in chat sessions. The backgrounds of photos may inadvertently give information that a potentially dangerous person can use to find someone. Most social websites where you can chat with strangers will allow avatar pictures as an image in place of an actual photo of the user and may even provide stock images.

Adult strangers in an online chat session are also more likely to engage in advanced tactics like computer hacking or tracking. These dangers can usually be avoided by refusing to download any attachments sent in a chat session. You can also prevent this by using a (VPN). These tools re-route your computer’s signal through remote IP addresses, so people can not accurately identify the location of your computer.

Many tech-savvy adults are also careful to take precautions like covering their webcams or mobile phone cameras when not in use. Covering or turning off cameras prevents hackers from working their way into webcams and secretly viewing someone remotely.

Following common-sense guidelines for internet safety, most social websites can be safe places for adults to chat with strangers. However, it is a good idea to be cautious when seeking a chat site. Remember, when you start in a stranger chat, you speak with a random person you do not know. Knowing whether you can trust an unknown person’s advice can be challenging. In addition, chatting with a stranger online becomes riskier if you feel emotional distress that could cloud your judgment and make you vulnerable to hostile online activity, such as stalking, bullying, and computer hacking.

How To Meet and Chat With Strangers Offline

One of the biggest thrills of chatting with strangers is getting to talk to someone new who you may not have otherwise met. However, getting to know new people doesn’t have to be limited to being online. There are many other ways to safely meet new people, chat with strangers, and possibly even make new friends and develop strong ties.

Meet People By Volunteering In Your Community

Volunteering at local organizations is a great way to chat with strangers who care about similar issues as you. In addition, you get to give back to your community, which can positively impact your mental health, and many mental health professionals recommend volunteering to clients as a form of therapy. 

Attend Courses To Meet New People

Attending courses helps you meet and chat with strangers who are interested in the same topics as you. Meeting new people in a class or workshop tells you there is already a conveyed interest that can help foster your relationship.

Chat With Strangers By Joining Clubs

Like courses, joining clubs can help you find and chat with strangers who communicate your interests. Clubs can help you meet new people quickly while also enjoying an activity that interests you. Either way, you get to enjoy a positive experience while chatting with strangers.

Talk To A Counselor

Making new friends is challenging for some people, and this can lead them to seek conversations with strangers online. In other cases, an unresolved personal issue or a mental health condition can propel someone to seek out strangers for a chat. In addition, some people start chatting online out of boredom and get hooked on the experience, then find it takes up a significant amount of their time and energy. In this case, a person might want to stop chatting online with strangers, so they have more time for family, in-person friends, and other offline activities. 

If you are concerned about your habit of chatting with strangers online, talking to a therapist might help. In addition, a counselor who is available online might be a comfortable option if you already like online chat. Online therapy platforms like BetterHelp.com let you connect with a therapist who matches your goals for self-improvement via video chat, phone calls, text messaging, and email. Online therapists are also available for more frequent sessions than many mental health professionals who see clients in their offices, and it is often less expensive per session. 

If your reasons for seeking out chat with strangers have to do with a mental health condition like depression, several studies have shown that connecting with a therapist online can be as effective as seeing someone in person, especially for treatment of depression, anxiety, and trauma. 

Takeaway

There are many different reasons you may want to chat online with strangers. It could be to discuss personal issues, loneliness, boredom, or to make new friends. All of these reasons are valid, but the feedback and advice you get may not be sound, healthy, or helpful. In addition, talking to strangers online carries a risk of encountering bullying, harassment, and other dangers. Other ways to meet and talk safely with new people include volunteering, taking classes, and joining clubs. In addition, talking to a therapist online or in person might help you resolve underlying personal issues connected to your desire to chat with strangers online.