This week we talk to young people about Internet chat rooms and ask if they are safe.
| I would not meet anyone through the Internet because it’s stupid, they might be mass murderers or something. |
Rebecca Patterson, Cowgate, 9
I think the World Wide Web chat rooms are cool. I like them because it means you can talk to other people. I've never been in a chat room myself but I have heard loads from people who have.
I read something in a newspaper about someone lying in a chat room, and it said this girl thought that a boy was nineteen but he wasn't he was really forty two.
I don't think I would meet someone in person through a chat room because it's dangerous
Michael Holland, Blakelaw, 11
I think World Wide Web chat rooms are very good. I like chat rooms because they are good to chat people up. I don't think people lie in chatrooms.
Kirsten Caine, Cowgate, 11
I don't really know anything about chat rooms because I've never been on them.
I do think people lie on chat rooms so I would definitely not meet someone through a chatroom because it might be someone who could take you away.
Paul Holland, Blakelaw, 15
I go into chat rooms at school but not at home. I think they are a really good idea, it gives you a chance to talk to people from different parts of the country or just your mates.
I have never lied in a chat room myself although people can lie in chat rooms if they want to, but if you check their profile they usually tell the truth. I think I would meet someone through a chat room because I know that all my mates have and the people they've met all seem to be very nice, the girls anyway.
Lindsay Marchant, Cowgate, 18
Chat rooms are canny but they are also very dangerous. I don't think I would go in one myself.
I think people always lie in chat rooms because a lot of them are perverts and they like the attention they get. I would not meet anyone through the Internet because it's stupid, they might be mass murderers or something so I wouldn't.
Amy Wood, Cowgate, 18
I think world wide chat rooms are OK because if you are bored or feeling a bit lonely you can talk to someone you don't know and tell them your problems.
In another way chat rooms are quite dangerous, as there are some really weird people that say they are in love with you and want to meet up. They also say obscene things to you and want your phone number. I have been in chat rooms a lot of times when I was at school. I did enjoy it back then because it was just a laugh.
I do think people lie when they are in a chat room. For instance say a man is lying about his age and he is speaking to a 15-year-old girl. The girl thinks that the boy is also 15 but really he is 37. They start having an intimate chat and they decide that they want to meet each other. Now that could be very dangerous for the girl because she thinks she is meeting a boy but he is really a man and anything could happen to her like abduction and rape.
I think people lie in chat rooms to impress the person they are talking to. Things like what they look like and their age. People are always lying about that sort of stuff when they are talking on the Internet.
About the team
This article was produced by Christie Newby, 11 and Rebecca Patterson, 9. Junior Jury is a weekly column in the Newcastle Evening Chronicle.
