My View on IRC Chatting
"...it's fun to write a column..."
Well, I see that this section is gonna be empty for quite a while, so I decided to have this little fun column first. You see, for us X or Y generations, the cyberworld seems to be invading into our private world. Everywhere we goes (I am talking in view of a Singaporean in Singapore), we see people online, surfing the net, checking email, etc. Even the mobile phones are going online. I bet that in 20 years time (maybe lesser), we will go into a "Cyber Generation" where everything can be done online...

So, you may ask, then what does that gotta do with the topic? You see, I see IRC as one major revolution in the world of communication. In times to come, it does have the potential to take over the phone line. Who knows, the phone line may be just a wire that connects us to the high speed broadband connection. Anyway, for those who have little idea on what the hell is IRC, it stands for Internet Relay Chat. It's now a popular tool for people to talk online and without the hassle of picking up the phone. You get to know people without knowing how they look like, their response can be almost real time, and you can take your own sweet time to reply while the other person is happily chatting with another girl!

However, it's a sad thing that people misuse this wonderful tool. We read the news, saw cases where this girl knew this guy over the IRC and went out with him. The end result is a happy man with a girl whose life may be ruined. While some feigned poverty in the chatrooms and asked people for donations, some just go in and try to get people to do bad things. Naturally, people will develop an untrust to IRC, especially the parents. They see it as evil, merciless, always attempting to make their child bad. But hey, look at things in gray! Things arent so bad.

Actually, I do know cases where parents are wary of people their children know through the IRC. Well, it's normal. Some even think all people in the IRC are bad. (that means almost 40% of the world population are bad :-p).Given the revolution speed of IT, socialising no longer takes place so often in face-to-face contact. People would prefer to sit at the comfort of their home, have a cup of kopi and chat with their friends online. In fact, technology will go at such a speed that soon, video conferencing will be able to make its way into IRC, making it even a better tool for communication. Back to track, parents should not worry about their children on IRC chatting so much. Most kids know how to think. And I can safely say that most chatters are actually nice people who will do no harm.

What more can I say? If you really think that IRC is a tool meant for satanic purpose, then it's alright! I am not here to preach to people about the goods of IRC. These are just my views! No offence, ok? :-)