Pathology of the Effects of Chat rooms on User's Individual and Social Actions

With the expanding popularity of the Internet and its application among different segments of the society, this medium and its various applications, one of which is chat rooms, caught the attention of experts in the field of social sciences. In recent years, psychologists and sociologists have studied the effect of attending chat rooms on the mental health and well-being of individuals and social culture. The Internet and its applications are increasingly expanding. Experts have been trying to tell people how to utilize the Internet since its inception and a lot of specialists still raise some issues on the manner and extent of using the net among different groups. Exploring the effects of using this technology requires various studies. Stressing various, modern applications of the Internet, this paper attempts to look into the impacts of using the net on users’ individual and social actions. The findings suggest that the Internet leads to some changes in people’s social culture. Using chat rooms, as one of the applications of the Internet, which is popular among Iranians, especially among the youth, has significantly impacted on the identity of users. This paper examines various aspects of these effects.