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Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Age/Sex/Location

Age/Sex/Location, a familiar term for those who were part of the internet boom. A clever few answered 18/yes, please/your place, while I stuck to the 16/f/WA. Who would have thought it was 11 yrs ago that I was part of the boom where AOL was the leader in all things chat. In the current day and age AOL is lucky to be an AIM and those still using AOL as their main provider may have dependency issues. Not pointing any fingers, dad.

In these times we still chat, but we are no longer sitting in a square box watching everyone’s names fly by. Now we are found chatting in game rooms. Oh how I love a good hand of poker. What I love more is meeting people from other countries. We all know our America is just plain boring and dreaming of visiting a foreign country is the in thing. Right now Lebanon is a place of interest for me. Not only do you get to meet these new and exciting people, but you get inspired to learn about their countries, lives, loves, and insecurities. It’s like a learning experience without the dirty looks from a teacher.

Growing up my screen name always represented my current personality. I changed my screen name more than I changed boyfriends. The very last screen name I created I made to empower myself. I wanted to create this confidant persona for everyone to see and for me to hide behind. To everyone I was known as Gorgeuzz. Deep down I could never see myself as Gorgeuzz. Not compared to all the other truly confident girls I met. With my name I used that false confidence to allow my true personality to come out. I truly am a loud mouthed, sarcastic diva, with a major need for an attitude adjustment. In public you would see me as a polite, “I will take your cart back.” butt kisser. Well, you would see me that way if you weren’t my closest friends and family. So not only is my confidence false in the cyber world, but my politeness is false in the real world. Odd.

I always thought I was a rare find. I thought females were the only hideaways in their internet personas. I learned that even males can have this need to hide their true sad feelings behind a false personality. Not all men are 50 yr olds pretending to be 18 and built. Some really are lonely and in the need of a friend they can truly talk to.

As my mother would say, “Don’t talk to strangers.” Mom they’re not strangers if I introduce myself. The internet can still be a weary place. Do be safe, but also try to meet some new friends in new places.

3 comments:

Lorraine Hart said...

I've known a few who lose themselves somewhere along the way...and throw their real lives away for the illusion.

I'm all for the 312 moving personalities...but they're all me...and I don't let any 'one' of them go out alone.

JosephMcG said...

Our imaginations are such wonderful teachers: empowering us to dream and create and become the wonderful person we are meant to be...
And with trusty friends, many of us do finally choose to become the sincere and loving and fascinating
persons we were meant to be...
Internet, face to face conversations, stories and poems and songs... so many ways life has given us so that we can become the beautiful creatures each one of us is called to be...

Thanks for your invitation to let our imaginations thrive...
Joseph

Stephanie Frieze said...

The Internet has the potential for being a great boon, but the dark side can be alluring and one must be careful of our interactions with others online.