It’s no secret that chatting online is the wave of the future. Whether you’re looking for love or just wanting to talk about a unique interest you share with other individuals, online chatting makes it quick and easy to meet plenty of people and make new relationships from the comfort of your home. If you choose to take it outside of online, take a look about how to date outside of Tinder. However, you always need to know some tips and tricks for talking to a stranger. It’s no secret that the online world CAN be a dangerous one.
If you’re not practicing proper safety precautions you could land yourself into a heap of trouble. To make sure you’re not setting yourself up for drama in the online world, here are 8 must-know tips to talking to a stranger online and keeping yourself protected.
Tips and Precautions You Should Use when Talking to People Online
Using these tips and precautions for talking to a stranger online will ensure that you are completely safe from harm’s way. Always remember these specific tips during your online adventures and check back often to make sure you haven’t done anything that puts you in potential danger.
Google Yourself
It is incredibly important to know what everyone else can find about you on the web. After all, you would hate to find out that someone with the researching skills necessary gathered up all your information from your full name to your address, age, and phone number, without you knowing any better.
That being said, you need to Google yourself and know exactly what information is accessible to the online world before talking to a stranger. If you notice that anything really personal is available online you can request to have it removed from the internet for your safety.
This should always be the first step you take before you enter the online chat world and talking to a stranger. You should check back often to make sure that nothing new and personal has popped up without your knowledge.
If you do see anything personal and request to have it removed, it may take some time before it is thoroughly removed from the net. In the meantime, take care to not use your real name on any chat sites to avoid them finding your information online.
Do Not Give Out Your Full Name
This might seem like a no brainer to you and I, but a lot of people who are knew the internet don’t know the reality behind giving out your full name to strangers on the internet.
The internet is a wealth of information when it comes to interesting facts, history, and yes, knowing and location people within seconds. With that said, you should always make sure you refrain from using your name while engaging in chats online. If the individual has your name, they can find you in a split second online.
With your name they will be able to find things such as your workplace, your Facebook and Instagram accounts (which means they will be able to see your hometown, family and friends, as well as pictures and other information they don’t need to know about), your address and phone number, and all other personal information you would not otherwise hand out to a stranger you just met on the internet.
A lot of people will opt to use a variation of their name when they’re chatting online, such as using ‘Shelly’ instead of ‘Michelle’ or ‘Tammy’ instead of ‘Tamara’. This is a great choice because you’re not lying about your name without handing out your information.
Whether you decide to use your real first name or a variation of it, always remember one thing: under no circumstances should your last name be provided. With that piece of information, people have the ability to look up your name and find info on you that you don’t want them to see.
Get a Fake Phone Number
Another quick and easy way to locate an individual and gain access to their information is by use of a phone number. But if you’re getting to know someone and it’s going really well and you don’t want to use the chat room anymore, how can you safely and securely text and call them without handing out your phone number?
One of the great things about smartphones is the ability to download applications that can be used on your phone using a ‘fake’ phone number (and email address, if needed). These apps will allow you to text and call without using your actual number, although you will be doing it from your personal smartphone.
That means that you do not have to worry about getting an extra phone, paying money for a new number, or any other hassle you may had to have struggled with in the past when smartphones and applications were non-existent.
All you need to do is download an app such as WhatsApp, follow the steps to get a ‘fake’ phone number, and begin calling and texting right away. It’s such an easy way to communicate with new people you’re not totally comfortable with, but definitely want to engage in conversation with on a regular basis.
Always Meet in a Public Place
*IF* you and an individual you met on the internet decide to meet in person, you need to make sure you are ONLY meeting in a public place. Never invite this individual over to your home or somewhere secluded like a park or forest. Meeting in a public place will ensure that there are other people around so there is no funny business happening between the two of you, and there will be security cameras in case something does end up happening. This is absolutely one of the top tips to follow when talking to a stranger.
Other precautions you should take when meeting someone online includes the following:
- Don’t let the person pick you up for a date. Not only will they know where you live at that point, but you will be stuck in their car and be completely at their disposal. Even if you planned on going one place, if you hop into their car and don’t have access to get out, they can take you wherever they please. That being said, ALWAYS DRIVE YOURSELF to the location- and make sure it is a public location at that!
- Tell someone that you are going to meet someone from the internet and let them know as much information as possible until something comes up. They should know the name of this individual, what they look like, where the two of you are going, and what time you will be leaving and returning. With this imperative information you can feel more at ease if anything were to happen.
- Don’t go back to their place after the date. Even if the two of you had an impeccable time and it was the best date you had ever been on, it is simply not safe to accompany them back to their home. Remember, even if you’ve been talking for months and have a great relationship with this person, you don’t know them fully and need to be careful.
Do Not Reveal Your Workplace
Another piece of information that should never be revealed when talking to a stranger is your workplace location. If an individual knows where you work, they will have access to even more information in the future. Not only that, but they COULD possibly show up to your work; and that is definitely something you want to avoid at all costs.
Instead of telling the person exactly where you work or even what company, you can simply tell them what you do. If you’re a teacher, simply tell them you teach children at an elementary school. If you’re a waitress, simply tell them you’re a server at a joint in town. No specifics need to be made at this time to ensure your safety on the internet.
Don’t Hand Out Facebook or Instagram Photos
If you did not know this already, Facebook and Instagram photographs can be searched on the internet and will take you directly to your actual website. All they have to do is a ‘reverse search’ on the internet, and all of your connecting information will pop up instantly.
For instance: if your profile picture is the same on Facebook as it is on your chat site, a person can simply pull the picture off the site to the desktop, then upload it on a reverse search engine. Since the two images are the same and found on both sites, all of sites having that picture will automatically pop up. This means that your Facebook, Instagram, and any other social media websites will be readily available to the individual.
You need to refrain from using any of your Facebook or Instagram photos on chat sites when talking to a stranger. Take new picture specifically for the chat sites you’re using so they cannot be searched and found on your other social media pages.
Tell Your Friends About Them
Even if you are not planning on going out and meeting this individual, it should be known to your loved ones that you are engaging in online chatting. You may be wondering why this is so important.
Well, first and foremost, if you’re chatting online and don’t follow the necessary tips and precautions for safety from strangers, your information can be reached without your knowledge. If someone random comes around after finding your information and something traumatic happens, it will be infinitely harder for investigators to find out what happened.
LEtting your loved ones know that you’re chatting online can help save you in the future. It will be known that strangers could potentially be getting access to your information, and it will always help in the future if you plan on meeting someone in person.
Another reason to tell your friends about them is that sometimes it’s best to have another point of view when meeting someone new. He may seem like the man of your dreams, but to your best friend the situation may seem fishy. This newfound information and getting information from someone you trust about a certain situation is always important to avoid any potential problems and save you plenty of time energy. After all, you would tell your bestie about a new guy friend you’re talking to in real life, so the same should go for chatting with a potential lover online.
Proceed with Caution
At the end of the day, you should always, ALWAYS proceed with caution. Take things slow! It shouldn’t be a race when you’re getting to know someone, whether you’re getting to know them in person or online.
Don’t send off too much information right in the beginning. Much like dating in real life, you want the guy to chase you, even if it is done a little bit different through the internet. You should not hand out any of your personal information, keep a lot of your personal life and interests held secret until further time, and just relax and let things happen the way they were meant to be.
Always remember that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Don’t believe everything that people tell you on the internet and don’t fall for tricks that simply don’t sound right. Don’t go and meet someone if you don’t know them thoroughly and have spent ample time getting to know them on a deeper level. Until you’re ready, don’t meet anyone or share information, and when you do decide to take things to the next level, take special precautions and always let a loved one know.
Meeting people on the internet is just how things are done these days. We can easily find someone with common interests to chat about video games, or we can head onto dating sites and find the next love of our lives. No matter our reason for chatting online, we must take special precautions to ensure that our lives are safe from predators and potential harms. By simply Googling yourself regularly to make sure there’s no information available online and keeping our personal information to ourselves, we fight the fear of someone getting to know us too well before we’re ready. Follow these tips for talking to a stranger to maintain your safety.
