Internet chat rooms are a dangerous place for little kids to go to because of the anonymity of the internet and the predators that are present everywhere. I figured this was the argument partly because of the letter to the editor I read about whales needing silence to not become beached, and because chatrooms can be very dangerous for the naive.
I am of the generation that grew up with the internet (Not to be confused with the generation that was born with the internet). I've been on a computer since the age of 3, and I have been to chatrooms as a kid. The exchange of personal information is common there. Most of it is harmless, but there are predators out there who take advantage of the nonchalant manner in which we share personal information with strangers online.
One need to look no further than Dateline NBC's "To Catch A Predator" to understand that this is really the case. Kids are naive, and their need for an authority figure early in life can lead them to take commands from people that they really shouldn't take commands from.
Another thing about chatrooms is that a lot of them are unmoderated. They can also be very busy. When you have lots of people talking at once, it can become overwhelming, and a kid who is exploring the internat and all it has to offer may be tempted to cross boundaries he or she is not supposed to cross, and the results can be disasterous.
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