You remember the days: You logged on to your favorite online service (maybe it was AOL, or if you go way back, maybe even Compuserve) and made a bee line straight for the chat rooms. 

It wasn’t fancy at all. In reality, it was nothing more than a collection of characters scrolling by on the screen. More technically, they were characters standardized by the American Standard Code for Information Interchange, or ASCII. Just a bunch of digital jargon that jumbled together to make a hodgepodge of words and barely decipherable acronyms like LOL, IMHO and the infamous A/S/L. 

But, somehow, it was more than that.  Much, much more than that. 

In those chat rooms, we built relationships. We connected with people. We argued, agreed, made plans and even fell in love, all over a digital exchange of text.  

There are numerous theories about why we so quickly bonded with people we had never seen before, who might be sitting behind a computer screen on the other side of the world or, for all we knew, on the other side of the street.  

The most prevalent is the Hyperpersonal Model, which is a deeply psychological exploration of how our brain fills in missing nonverbal communication clues with things we find favorable, accelerating our interpersonal connections and, in too many cases, creating a persona for the other person that doesn’t really exist. There’s more information about the Hyperpersonal Model  available at this Wikipedia link. 

Whatever the psychological reasons behind why we connected the way we did, no one can deny that the emotions we felt when we built relationships in text-based chat were very, very real, and maybe even a little addictive. 

That’s why, despite the readily available voice and video chat features, text chat refuses to die… and we’re happy to continue embracing it. 

At Ariana Society, we value the legacy of chat rooms.  Whether you’re looking to connect in text-based chat or in more classic forums (that don’t require other members to be online at the same time), we’ve made great efforts to keep them readily available in our “Community” section.  

If you’re already a member, why not log in today and see what connections of your own you can build?   If you’re not a member, you can get access here.