Discussion satisfactions and talk to strangers today? The best part of talking to strangers is that you never know who you might meet. The person running on the treadmill next to you might have a job opportunity for you, they might be in the market for the piece of real estate you are trying to sell, they might run for president one day (who wouldn’t love being a close friend to the president), or they might end becoming your husband or wife. You have literally no idea what to expect from the interaction unless you actually step up and initiate a conversation with the stranger. By talking to them, you open up a world of numerous possibilities. You don’t know what opportunities you miss by keeping to yourself. Discover a few more details at 321chat.

But even as social media connects teens to friends’ feelings and experiences, the sharing that occurs on these platforms can have negative consequences. Sharing can veer into oversharing. Teens can learn about events and activities to which they weren’t invited, and the highly curated lives of teens’ social media connections can lead them to make negative comparisons with their own lives: 88% of teen social media users believe people share too much information about themselves on social media.

This point is loosely in relation to body language and voice tone. It is true that chat communication benefits you as you send unconscious messages to the other person through your body language. In addition, with chat communication, you can explain clearly and answer questions with integrity. If you are a manager, your employees are able to see clearly how your words and actions align. This will enhance your credibility and help build trust between you and the other person.

Why is identification important? Social identity theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) posits that our group memberships are just as important as individual identity in defining the self (see Ellemers, Spears, & Doosje, 2002) and thus are equally important determinants of our downstream outcomes mediated by the self-concept (such as well-being and behavior). We suggest that online forums are precisely this type of group; they function as a powerful site of community for their users. Furthermore, it is the development of the sense that this community is meaningfully connected to the self (i.e., forum identification) that creates the dual benefits of individual well-being and offline civic engagement. In other words, identification plays a mediating role that drives the other two outcomes of interest. In this section we highlight two of the many benefits of identification already established in the offline literature that we feel merit closer attention because they map onto our outcomes of interest. Explore even more details on talkwithstranger.com.

In February 2004, a reporter asked one author (Wellman) to comment on the deaths of four supposed “cyber-addicts” who spent much time online in virtual reality environments. The reporter lost interest when Wellman pointed out that other causes might be involved, that “addicts” were a low percentage of users, and that no one worries about “neighboring addicts” who chat daily in their front yards. A more pervasive concern has been that the internet sucks people away from in-person contact, fostering alienation and real-world disconnection.

In COVID era chatting with people can improve your mood a lot. Be understanding and empathetic. Let people know you’re listening and you care. While you may not be able to change things, you can express knowledge of their challenges as well as compassion for their struggles. Acknowledge these, allowing for people’s discomfort. You don’t have to spend a large portion of your messaging here, but at least let people know you understand. This will go a long way toward the trustworthiness of your message. Be human. Especially in times of stress or unease, people want to know messages are from people, not robots. While you may not focus here—after all, your challenges will be different than those of others and the focus shouldn’t be on you—it’s okay to acknowledge you too have questions and are working through things. In terms of the content of your message, it’s also okay to say you’re processing some issues and don’t yet have the answers. Perhaps there is a key policy or benefit that is changing. You can let people know it will be changing without giving details yet—this kind of transparency will also breed trust.