15 to 30 minutes a day are spent in chat rooms. 70% of children often or always log into chat using another name. 21 % of the children who chat, answer that they often or always make up stories about their life.

These facts should be understood in the context that the chat is a media channel through which children play with fantasy identities, share intimate talks on friendships, first love and sex.  For children, chat is about fun and pranks, as well as a space for them to share their thoughts and feelings on growing up with peers.

There are clear signs that children are moving from open chat rooms to instant messaging services.  Popular instant messaging service MSN Messenger reports users in Denmark has increased from 350 000 to 1.1 million in the last year. Instant messaging is a better environment for chat with a private network of friends.

One Danish 14 year-old-girl says, “I don’t go to chat rooms anymore, I only use Messenger.  It gets boring talking to someone I don’t know, we run out of subjects to talk about.”

Chat safety issues have taken a turn with the use of mobile phones for chatting on Messenger and MCCYP recommends that safer Internet issues consider this broader range of media channels.

The Media Council for Children and Young People (MCCYP), under the Danish Ministry of Culture, runs an awareness campaign called NetKompaz.  This is targeted towards parents and teachers on safer Internet, including chat, for children and young people.