If there's one universally acknowledged truth, it's that teens love to talk. The best teen chat rooms give teens the chance to make new friends, practice their flirting skills, explore life experiences different from their own, and exert a little independence. Teens today can join in the age-old tradition that their millennial elders started for them — talking with strangers online.
6 Best Chat Rooms for Teens to Get Their Gab On
Whether you're just in the mood to gab or you want to escape the confounding kids in your community, these chat rooms ideal for teens can keep you busy for hours. We live in an incredible age where you don't have to share the same zip code as all your friends.
Who knows? Fate just might be pushing you to the people you were always meant to find... online.
Discord
Teens with a niche hobby, like gaming or following certain YouTubers, can look for customized group chats in Discord. This program features classic text chat and voice chat while you're playing any online game. It's completely free and takes seconds to set up on your computer. There are tons of personalization options, like sending private messages or joining pre-existing chat rooms.
Get their free app to chat while playing on your phone, too. Discord is a place that allows teens with similar interests to meet, talk, and share in their love of various subjects. It's become one of the most popular chat room-esque sites on the internet for a reason.
Okay, hear me out. Reddit might not strictly be a chat room site, but the members in niche subreddits treat their pages like chat rooms. They grow to recognize usernames, have long conversations in the posts, and participate in a shared love of a topic. There are thousands of subreddits just waiting to be explored. And teens new to chat rooms will find its social media-esque design comfortingly familiar.
It's free to join, and most subreddits are moderated by one or several users. Keep in mind that each subreddit has its own rules, so make sure you read up on them before joining in.
Not sure how to make friends in a chat room? A great place to start is finding one dedicated to a topic you already enjoy. It's much easier to start a conversation on common ground than it is to try cold turkey.
Teen Chat
Teens from ages 13 to 19 can chat via Teen Chat's free rooms. From the main chat page, you'll see tons of information about the site's rules and the safety precautions they take. The only personal information they take is your IP address just in case any legal situation arises, making it a more secure environment that should be free of inappropriate users.
You can register for an account using your email address or log in as a guest to remain anonymous. Simply create a username for your chat session, and you're in the main chat. From there you can add people to your private messaging list as you build out your network.
Chat Avenue
Chat Avenue is another expansive chat room host that features a teen chat room, among many others. The Teen Chat is only open to teens 13-19 years old, and there are strict rules that all participants must follow. You can feel confident knowing that you can report anyone in the chat for breaking the rules.
You don't need to have an account (though you can make one) to participate. Simply log in as a guest and get started!
SecondLife
SecondLife is a virtual community where teens over age 13 can create a Sims-like identity for free. While there are a lot of things you can make your avatar do in the virtual world, interacting with other users on the forums is one of its long-lasting appeals.
Head to the "Make Friends," "Lifestyles and Relationships," or "Missed Connections" forums to strike up a conversation with someone. Given the anonymity and persona you can build with SecondLife, these forums can be the perfect place to experiment with harmless flirting. You can work out the kinks of flirtatious conversation from the safety of a virtual mask.
321Chat
Established in 2002, millennials may recognize the longstanding online chat website 321Chat. Although it's a repository of all kinds of chat rooms, there are teen-specific chat rooms that kids over 13 and under 19 can join.
While 321Chat is moderated, there aren't always moderators present in the chats, so young teens should be careful when using this site. Enter the teen chat straight from their website to get chatting.
Related: 100 Bucket List Ideas for Teens to Do Before You Finish High School
Are Teens Chatting Online Like They Used To?
If you're a millennial like me, then you remember the chat room heyday. The internet is just as much of a wild, wild west environment as it was back then, but those strangers we messaged couldn't see our faces.
The reality is that teens are largely not interacting through online chat rooms like they used to. Do they still make friends online? Totally. But they find their digital crew through social media apps instead of chat rooms or AIM.
Is that to say teens won't find their way onto these platforms? No. But is it the first place they go to look for community? Not really.
6 Chat Room Safety Tips Every Teen Needs to Know
If you're chronically online, you probably recognize the term iPad kid. Well, with toddlers being exposed to the wonders (and dangers) of the internet before they have the discernment to navigate a made-for-adults landscape, kids are growing up with a severe lack of training on internet safety.
Growing up in the 2000s, the do's and don'ts of chat rooms were burned into my and my classmates' brains. So, from my experiences to yours, I've got some of the most important chat room safety tips that every teen needs to know.
Don't Give Out Your Personal Information
Never give out personal information to a stranger online. Talking to someone for more than two days doesn't make them your friend. This isn't to say you can't vent about your problems or discuss complex subjects with the people in your chat rooms.
But you shouldn't give them identifiable information. A first name is ambiguous, but your last name, your school's name, your neighborhood, or the name of the place your parents work at are all things people can use to find you in real life.
Don't Be Afraid to Ghost Someone Who Makes You Uncomfortable
It doesn't matter how long you've been talking to someone online — if they do something or say something that makes you uncomfortable, you should stop talking to them. Your gut instinct is there for a reason, and you should listen to it.
You can be friendly and kind to people on the internet while putting your own safety first.
Report People Who Are Breaking the Rules
Chat rooms have rules for a reason, and if someone is breaking them, then you should report them to the moderators. Even if you're not feeling threatened by their misbehavior, someone else on the platform might be and may feel too scared to speak up against them.
You have the power to create a safe space — use it!
Be Honest With Your Guardians if Something Feels Wrong
If a conversation turns threatening, you're being harassed, or someone starts to hunt down information about you in real life, reach out to your parent or guardian. The consequences of being in a space you might not have been given permission to explore will (almost always) be less severe than the potential real-world and/or mental harm that comes from not speaking up.
Don't Send or Say Something to Someone You Don't Want the World to See
There's no guarantee that the person you're talking to online won't use any material you send them in ways that you're uncomfortable with. Photographs, messages, and voice notes can all be manipulated to serve a dastardly purpose.
Before you send anything, think about whether you'd want your guardians or your classmates to see it. If the answer is no, don't send it.
Don't Meet Up With Chat Room Strangers in Real Life
Much like you wouldn't take someone's finsta DM's seriously, you shouldn't believe everything a stranger on the internet tells you about themselves. Of course, some people do fall in love (romantically or platonically) with strangers online.
And while you'll be stubborn if you want to be and find a way to meet up with someone if you're really dead set on it, make sure you do the following:
- Share your location and the name of the person you're meeting with multiple people.
- Meet in a public location, and never follow them to another location.
- Meet during the day.
- Never meet at their house or residence.
- Never travel to meet with them.
- Have your own form of transportation to and from the location.
- Establish a time you're meant to be home with someone and check in with them.
Teens Just Want to Have Fun
The best teen chat rooms make it fun to be there. Teens today have no problem bouncing from a digital space that doesn't speak to them, and these teen-safe chat rooms are places they'll want to spend time. Whether you want to be anonymous to practice your flirting skills or are looking for a real community your school is lacking, these chat rooms might be the answer to your prayers.
