Category: Dating and Relationships
Do you remember sitting in a chatroom, watching people chat, or even chatting
yourself? Do you remember recieving so many forwards that your mailbox was
ready to explode? How about recieving an email from someone just searching for a
friend. Did you wonder who these people might be that are behind the
keyboard?
Online we meet new people from all around the world. Some we chat with just
once and then we go on. Others we chat with time and time again, and a
friendship is made. Others become our email buddies, and we look forward to their
emails each day, but have you ever really wondered who was really behind the
keyboard?
So often we meet a friend in chat we stay up all night chatting, sometimes we
laugh so hard we cannot type, other times we cry and our keyboards are
stained from tears. We chat about our lives and help solve each others' problems, we
lend a shoulder if we can. Did you ever think to yourself, who is really
behind that keyboard?
Did you ever chat with someone that promised you the world and that your
friendship will be forever, and then they are gone? Do you forget about them and
move on, or do you wonder "who was that person really, that was behind the
keyboard?
Have you ever hid behind your keyboard, pretending to be something you are
not, just to boost your ego? As you sat there and typed have you ever lied,
thinking "who cares, the person behind the keyboard, it is only a fake person?"
Did you ever hurt someone thinking "it's only a game"?
Well, behind each and every keyboard are very real people, some might be
heartless cold people, not caring who they hurt, but then there are people that
are caring, loyal, honest and all kinds of people hoping for some companionship
online.
Behind the keyboard can be someone who is seriously depressed and their only
hope is to make a friend, maybe an aging person who once had a family, but now
they live too far apart to see one another, perhaps there is someone that
cannot walk anymore or a person so ill they are in the house forever.
As we enter the world of the internet we should remember, it is a very real
world and behind each and every keyboard is a person who has a heart. No one
has a life that is pain free, so as we go online whether in chat or just
emailing, we must remember to treat each person the way the we want to be treated, to
respect each others' feelings, and to offer friendship, because the truth is
we really do not know who is behind the keyboard or what kind of hurt someone
may be feeling. To be the best to others that you can be should be the "key"
to a good, honest life.
Hi friends,
Above the article is a very true message to all of us. Can you guys give ne your view on that?
Cilla
I have always been very true about myself when I have been behind this keyboard. I do omit things to people I'm just starting to get to know, so they don't find out everything that they could take advantage of. I usually wait a year before giving someone my phone number, unless I've known them for at least one or two months and totally trust them. I often seek to voice chat or make a phone call to the people I meet behind the keyboard so that I know their voices, so that I know that they're real. But yes, even in doing that, I've been hurt and lied to. It's just like everyday life now, the computer is just another form of communication between real people and you never know who you can trust.
Imade friends with people only to be repeatedly kicked in the teeth,so now i keep people on the net at more than arms length,if i send a message and they don't answer then i think hmmm you were right Al leave well alone.
People in your immediate life are far more important than any bugger on the net,after all will they stand by you in difficult circumstances No not in my experience they turn and run at the 1st sign of a problem.
I came out to a supposed friend on the net who had assued me she was very broad minded,when i admitted to my bisexuality she blew up and said in so many words that i was disgusting! How can that be i didn't choose it anyway thats just 1 example of the kind of hurtful deception i've encountered.
I've had pretty positive experiences on the Net, but I know of people who haven't. For the most part I've met really great people on the Net, but I'm very cautious. I don't give out my info to just anyone, and when I do, I'm careful. But I've met a lot of great people this way, and they rock. So have fun, but be careful and be kind.
Caitlin
I'm always honest about myself on the Net but also choose what I feel comfortable telling people when I first meet them. I'm usually pretty open to begin with but don't give anyone my picture or phone number until I feel like I can trust the person, but even then it's rare for me to do that. Things have been good the majority of the time, and there are some people I would consider good friends. I've only had one scary experience with this person who was a total perv and used the f word in every sentence. After that, I've been more cautious about trusting people in a way. But other than that, I agree that the Internet is just another way of meeting people and that it is best to be honest but careful at the same time.
Leilani
As for myself I've made some of my best friends on teh net. I'm also pretty open about myself. Enough people know me that if people wanted to find out who I am or stuff about me, it probably wouldn't be that hard. I don't worry all that much. There are things you can do to keep yourself safer, but life hapens. :) If someone's out for you, they can do stuff. I just trust that the majority of people out there aren't going too psycho.
I've made some pretty amazing friends on the net. I just feel that I can be myself on here without having to put on a front. I am me. I will never be anything but me. I am more outgoing on here than in person becuase when I first meet someone I am a little shy, but once I warm up you'll see that I'm the same person as I am online :).
I am always honest on the net. I even give my voice clip out and my picture and both are me myself and I. I do not do the internet dating thing though cause of that problem of dishonesty.
Troy
i am who i am, no matter if im behind a keyboard or not.
well it iqually happens off line that we can meet people who claim to be something they're not, either romantically or otherwise. My view on it is this though, if you are chatting on line to make friends, then pretending to be something you're not will never achieve that. Yes you may make short term friends, but in the long term, you will ultimately have to admit to being something you're not, and when that happens, you will lose peoples' trust. I personally couldn't be bothered to make up an internet persona, after all, to be a good lier, you have to have a good memory, and sooner or later you will give yourself away.
As for trusting people you talk to? well I guess a lot of it comes down to common sense. I have two email addresses, actually it wasn't planned that way, I had one then changed my ISP but the original one is my msn, and I give that out to pretty much anyone who asks for it, because I don't check it that regularly, it's web mail so it doesn't flood outlook express, and I don't get much signifficant email to it. My other address is my main address and I give that only to people I absolutely trust not to flood my inbox with junk. As for my phone number .. well, I am very, very selective who I give that to. and my home address .. no one has that.
I hate all this shitty talk about "treating everyone like you'll like to be treated" Just damn treat them honestly and formally.
put yourself in peoples positions before screwing yourself up, ya see, the universe has a balance, and you dont want ill coming your way, so why treat people ill? thats like walking up to a dog kicking it in the head and wondering why the fuck you just had a foot amputated. I dont give a shit if its a game, a chat room, any of that. you need to learn about the universal balance.
I agree with Jenny.