Sage Entry from Beth

This entry was written by Beth, aka Carpe_Diem on FOD. She wrote this to relate her experience, and feelings, with interacting over the internet. I’ll let you judge the content of this entry.

Okay, has anyone reading this ever met anyone over the internet? Of course you have! You’re on open diary after all, and you’re meeting people every day. But do you trust them totally?

I have met a lot of people over the internet. I even had two relationships over it. But now that I think of it, internet relationships really aren’t good for your mind. You don’t know if the person you are talking to is real, or if they’re just out to hurt you. Sure, probably there is more chance that the person is real than he or she is not, but you always have to take that extra precaution.

I “dated” this guy, Chad over the internet. he hurt me so many times, and I just trusted him over and over again. Why would I stress so much over someone I met on the INTERNET? I wasted almost two years of my life over this guy, and I haven’t seen him since the last time we spoke, of which he was drunk and did some things that really pissed me off. So I don’t talk to him anymore, and my life is that much better. I’m living every day to make it count to try and make up for those two years that I spent in front of a computer screen believing the lies that were being shoved down my throat…. and that me being so naive.. i believed them.

I have grown up a lot since then, and I don’t mean years. This was only less than a year ago the last time I spoke to Chad, but I have grown up in mind, the internet shouldn’t be something to obsess over. I’m not saying, don’t get msn aol or icq or all those other chats out there, i’m just saying to be careful. It’s your life, not someone’s life in another country. Live your life for YOU, live your life for the people you can see, don’t get so caught up in the internet, whom you just have to give the benifit of the doubt on weather they are real or not.

I’m not saying that all the people you meet online are fakes, freaks or psychos. I’m just saying, from experience, that you have to be careful. You may just adore this new guy you met on Yahoo chat this morning, and want to give up your whole life for him, but there should always be the thought in your head, not to get too carried away, and not to get too involved, because you never know who’s on the other side of the computer.

I know your parents have given you this talk, and you just shrug it off saying “yeah yeah I know”. My parents gave me that talk, and even though I pretended that I cared to their faces, once they left the house I was back on that computer talking to these people getting all involved and emotional.

Now I wonder… why? Sure there’s people I really care about that I met on the Internet, but I know now that it shouldn’t be such a big deal, and you should really focus on the people that you can see every day. That way you won’t say “oh i miss him so much” or “i miss her like crazy” and you don’t even know who you’re missing! In real life, you don’t know, you think you do, or you just deny the fact that you’re taking a big risk.

So I learned my lesson, I was thinking about all this about another Internet boyfriend I had who passed away, and this thought entered my mind, so my friend asked his sister, who i consider my sister still even if she doesn’t see me as a sister, and she’s pretty pissed off at me, but I just hope she understands someday that I was just being careful, and wasn’t meaning to question anyone’s existance, nor hurt anyone.

So I have learned a lesson, my Internet Lesson. Once school starts in Spetember, I will not be on chats as often, because I’ll be studying. I’m in grade 11 in September, and that year, and grade 12 are the most important years. They’re theprep years for University and College. It’s always been my dream to go to university or college for journalism, because I have a passion for writing. So I’ll be reaching for the top as you could call it, getting my goal of an 85% to anything in the 90’s for my overall average. I’ll be studying a lot, so I probably own’t even look at a chat room. I can keep in touch with my friend Joe, who’s over the internet yes, but once again, I’m taking that chance, but we aren’t involved with each other, we’re just friends. i call him a brother though because he’s helped me through a lot. So I can keep in touch with him through e-mail, and on here, and yes I will be updating my diary telling you all how school is going. I want to keep in touch with my friend “sister” whom I won’t mention her name here for her privacy I’m sure she doesn’t want everything out in the open, but if she wants to she can e-mail me too, or leave me notes or whatever she wants.

So I’m just telling you all about what I’ve learned from the experience of Internet communication. (chat lines) I don’t trust them anymore, I will only talk to the people I trust now. I hope you Internet people can learn something from this too, and I hope you’ll be careful in the future.

I agree with some of things she said because you truly don’t know who you are talking to. However, a lot of good can come out of meeting someone over the internet. Couples who participated in long distance relationships get married; someone finds a long lost relative; unknown friends can become the best of friends and so much more. There are people on the net who I feel close to, or want to be a part of their life in some way. There are others, however, who I feel will be there only as a casual friend or a good friend at best.

To counter one point in her entry, yes, it makes sense to worry more about people you see in real life than on the net. However, how often does someone in real life hurts you in some way, or loses your trust? Granted, the same can happen online, but I believe there’s a hazard in both lifestyles. Sometimes, your best friends could be next door, a city away, a county away, a state away, or a continent away. You just don’t know. How far would you draw the line when you’re talking to someone online? And how would know to trust them or not?