Pros and Cons to Communicating Online

Communicating online is a popular tool used in today's society. Teens use instant messaging(IM), e-mail, chat rooms, and blogging to keep in touch with friends and family. A positive aspect of using IM to communicate online with others is that it is a fast paced system that allows people to send messages to other screen names. Also, there can be more then two people talking at one time, so groups can converse. A negative aspect to IM is that anyone can send a message to another person as long as they have their screen name, so there can be predators and strangers stalking others. E-mail is a very common way that students use to communicate with each other and with family that uses the internet as their only way of connection with others. A pro of e-mail is that it is more private then IM because it is only between two people. E-mails, however, have cons to them, too. There is a lot of spam messages that are filtered through, and many hoaxes. E-mail addresses can be accessed to by anyone, there for, they easily get into chain message lists and mailing lists, too. Chat rooms are places that are set up in a way for mulitple people to enter and talk about anything. For instance, people can post advertisements for a website, store, or new show. They can converse with people that they don't know, which can be good and bad. It is bad because child predators can go into chat rooms looking for innocent people that they can make give out personal information. Chatrooms are very dangerous, and are an easy way to get caught in situations that can make people feel uncomfortable. Blogging is a very easy way to post ideas. A positive aspect of blogging is that it can allow people to talk about any topic that they choose with other people who are also interested in the same subject. Cons of blogging are that anyone can join in and post any comments that they would like, which may hurt other people emotionally. Online communication has many positive aspects and negative aspects to it.