-It’s easier to carry on a conversation or multiple conversations -It’s instant, you don’t have to wait for the other person to check their email, they get the message right away -You can be on different parts of your computer and doing different things while still being logged into IM -It’s good for quick short messages, for example questions, notifications, etc.
Chat Room: Pros
-You can meet people all around the world who share the same interests as you in a non-threatening environment (well-monitored chat room) -It can save you time by directly communicating with people (not having to put together group meetings, etc) -Be apart of an online community where people don’t judge your appearance (they can’t see you)
Instant Messaging: Cons
-Takes away from face to face communication -It’s not good for long complicated messages -If people type too quickly or use abbreviations you may not be able to understand the message and you could misinterpret the tone of the message -You can’t be 100% positive who you're talking to even if you know who they and such things
Chat Room: Cons
-Chat rooms being completely anonymous people think they can act in rude, sexual, or violent manners towards others -It’s an easy way for predators to target young teens. Teenagers may feel more open to having honest and intimate conversations with these predators (they don’t know their being targeted). An example of a predator would be a pedophile. -Flaming happens all the time on chat rooms (flaming is insulting someone personally or disrespecting them)