What follows is a first person account from one of the regulars to our 40+ chat room:
“I love chatting online. I got into computer about 4 years ago, when I was 39 years old, and started chatting online a lot about 2 years ago. It was a good way to enjoy myself without all the expense and trouble of going out every night. I make enough money, but my job is stressful, and going out for happy hour drinks every night would strain my budget and talking to people online proved itself a great way to blow off stress by venting the troubles of the day, and often a good way to have some fun and share some jokes. But my problem right away was the low quality and rarity of chat rooms for older people. There are thousands of online meeting spots where young people can meet up and talk, but very few for the 40+ crowd. About a year ago the last good 40+ chat room that I used shut down, because it wasn’t getting enough use, and I just stopped talking online completely.
“Skip forward 6 months to last September. My company had been experiencing some problems like everybody, with the economy these days, but I was sure my job was secure. I was friends with the boss, and I was the only person at my company who had the expertise to do my job, so I knew that my job was secure. Except in September the company went bankrupt and shut down. All of a sudden I had no way to earn my living. It is hard finding a job with the economy in the dumps, and as you can imagine I was having a hard time sleeping at night. A few sleepless days and nights passed, and I decided to start looking online again for people to talk to. I found the most amazing chat for people like me. When I first entered there were people talking about the current state of the world, but at the same time having fun and chatting about their love life, marriages, and all sorts of interesting things. I felt at home right away and after introducing myself, I jumped into the conversation pretty quickly. That night I had the best night of sleep I had in months.
“It is amazing how much being well rested can help with self presentation. About 2 weeks later I managed to find a good job, and I started 2 weeks after that. I still talk all the time. Look me up sometime, my nickname is MrLondon925.”