Chat Rooms in the Smartphone Era
Chat rooms have become an integral aspect of people’s lives in the smartphone era. People share news, thoughts, and feelings through lively phone messages. It is no exaggeration to say that every smartphone user belongs to at least one group chat room. Their chat room buddies are mostly family, friends, or people from work. The majority enjoy the casual chats while some occasionally complain about the constant messages from the workplace. Admittedly, chat rooms strengthen family ties and friendships though work-related chat rooms may bother some who care much about their after-work leisure.
To start with, smartphone chat rooms can help narrow emotional distance between family members who live together under the same roof Words like “thank you” and “sorry” that can be heard frequently among colleagues and strangers are less often spoken among family members. Thanks to chat rooms, these emotions can now be shared through a wide selection of expressive emoticons （表情符号）.Specifically, chat rooms can serve as a helpful connection between parents and children, who may otherwise be out of touch with each other most of the time. Listening to their children and being aware of even little things going on in their lives through family chat rooms contribute to better parenting.
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Are group chat rooms just as beneficial in the workplace? The answer is no. The chief reason is that employees have to be available 24/7. While a chat room keeps them informed, employees often feel harassed by messages from the boss, especially after work hours. For example, the boss may check an employee’s work, giving more instructions, even long after office hours. If the employee does not reply to the message, it would be the same thing as ignoring the boss. Worse still, employees are not free to simply leave the chat room. They are afraid if they are not part of that online space, they will be left out of real-life interaction with their colleagues. That is why some people view the chat room as prison in the workplace.
In a word, while people appreciate the benefits of connecting and communicating with family members, friends and workmates, they may also suffer from the harassments of work messages in their leisure time. Yet, like it or not, chat rooms are here to stay.
