Even if you've not seen the movie, "You've Got Mail", you can undoubtedly relate to that moment when you want that person you're typing to be more than just a series of text on a computer screen. That moment when daring leap off the anonymous digital state and make real-live-human contact. That chance to make new friends or be drawn into a new relationship.
Contact can be one of the most rewarding experiences. My first experience came when someone popped up a message on my screen, 'Are you Eric?' Oddly enough, it shocked me more than it should have because "Eric" happened to have been the name of my ex-boyfriend. This "Eric" was actually Sam's cousin, who also attended the college with us. We continued to converse and eventually discovered we were in the same class. It was pretty obvious when two seconds after you hit {Send}, the computer next to you beeps. Sam and I became friends through college and have grown to share many friends in common. Now that we've both left college, we keep in touch almost exclusively through email.
I was lucky enough to have meet very nurturing and caring people online, many whom I've had the pleasure of meeting in person. When I say "lucky", I mean it. There were some things I did, some chances I took that with hindsight, I can clearly see were not worth the risk.
In the movie, "You've Got Mail", Meg Ryan's character is teased by her coworkers and friends as to the identity of the mysterious email companion.
"Maybe it's the Roof-top killer?"
"Maybe he's married?"
"Maybe he's fat?"
"He's had... 152 moles removed so now he has 152 pox marks on his face."
While these queries came in jest and good fun, they pose serious concerns. The Internet can be an anonymous place, a place to escape and role-play another person or another life. Despite the number of hours you speak online with a person, there is no way of REALLY KNOWING who this other person is.
Now, before you accuse me of overreacting, let me pose this second thought:
Meeting someone online is no different than meeting someone at a bar.
You talk and converse casually for some time. You may meet up with friends or go for drinks a couple of times. But, you don't really know this person until you start to get personal with him/her. And by then it may be too late.
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