Lurking In Chat Rooms
Internet Psychology Reveals Why We Lurk & Don't Participate
Most internet surfers lurk on forums, chat rooms, and discussions instead of participating. Here's why we lurk in chat rooms (some of us really do fear chat rooms).
Lurking in chat rooms is part of internet psychology. Specifically, lurking in chat rooms is defined as "the tendency of internet surfers to loiter in chat rooms, forums, and website discussions instead of actively participating." (Chat room psychology isn't a technological term, and neither is lurker psychology. It's not a psychological disorder either -- not yet, anyway!)
Chat room psychology may be the next big trend in internet psychology. Soon – if there's not already – there will be chat room psychology research grants to study the effects of loitering on discussion forums.
Here's why we lurk in chat rooms instead of actively participating.
Lurking in chat rooms: The answer is too obvious
If a question is answered authoritatively in a chat room, there's no need to answer it again or even discuss the topic. Or, lurkers in chat rooms may not feel qualified to answer specific questions. For example, "Should I leave my boyfriend?" may be too difficult and vague to answer. "Should I leave my abusive, cheating, lying, stealing, alcoholic, incarcerated boyfriend?" seems too obvious (the answer to that is "yes" by the way).
Lurking in chat rooms: Fear
Lurkers may fear ridicule, teasing, or humiliation. The island I live on has a community forum; for months I was afraid to post on it because people posted rude and insensitive remarks in the past. The forum has changed a great deal since then and I participate when I have something to offer – but I am careful what I say. I live with my fellow posters on a little island, after all!
Lurking in chat rooms: Boring topics
Perhaps lurkers just aren't all that excited about the topics.
Lurking in chat rooms: Self-confidence
It's possible that lurkers don't have the self-confidence or self-esteem to share their opinion or knowledge. They're self-conscious about making their presence known; they'd rather just watch the interaction between others. Like watching a play or being a voyeur.
Lurking in chat rooms: Voyeurism
If you're a voyeur, you get sexual pleasure from watching other people. Most psychologists/psychiatrists classify it as psychological disorder. Lurking in chat rooms is a type of voyeurism, but not necessarily a psychological disorder.
Other reasons we lurk in chat rooms:
- overbearing or arrogant posters (that's off-putting)
- slow typists (takes too long to write)
- lack of time (even for fast typists)
- past disappointments
- bad experiences
- goofy or thoughtless answers from others
- concern about grammar or spelling mistakes
These are valid and fair reasons to lurk in chat rooms, but it's more fun to participate – like with everything else in life! Getting involved is an adventure that can change your perspective, habits, and attitudes. Lurking in chat rooms isn't as rewarding as actually participating.
If you found Lurking in Chat Rooms interesting, you might like Internet Addiction or Cyberdating.
