When I was new to the web . . .

When I think back to my first monumental memories of the internet, I always think first of the America Online revolution. In the year 1997, when my older brother, Scott, reached the ripe age of fifteen he began high school. I was twelve and attending the sixth grade at our local Ledford Middle School. As this time, I suppose my father assumed it to be time to invest in a computer, in order to enhance his academic endeavors. I’ll never forget the day he brought it home, for it was a Micron! The only computers I had ever used before this day was the computers at my middle school; and of course, my prior use was strictly for educational purposes. Being the budding young student that I was, I remember being so excited to have such a great, new machine, now at my finger tips.

Everyone at school had been talking about AOL, as they exchanged their screen names in class, exclaiming “I’ll im you tonight and we’ll chat” as they passed through the hallways and left school for the day. Needless to say, I was jealous! For weeks I had pondered to myself and asked all my friends just what I should name myself. After hours and hours of careful consideration, I had decided on the name Sweetie#1. I was sure that my new chatting capability would extend my popularity, strengthen my friendships and perhaps teach me a little something, following my father’s studious intentions for his children. He would be happy to know that he was providing a new learning tool for us, and we would be happy knowing we could now “surf the net” and “chat online.”

When the day finally came, it took my dad hours to set it all up. My brother and I were in the background anxiously awaiting confirmation of a successful setup. Now that I think back I’m sure my dad was a little annoyed by us, as we continuously asked him “Is it done yet Dad? When do you think it will be done Daddy”? But bless his patience, he never once got angry or annoyed with us, even when multiple complications arose in the process, as problems with computers most assuredly always will happen. I suppose he didn’t want to ruin the angelic excitement in our little hearts; and I’ll bet he was a little excited himself, for we weren’t the only ones who would be able to “surf the web” at our own home!

Finally, when the system was all set and ready, it was time to chat with all my friends. But there was one little problem on this long awaited day; I hadn’t had a clue as to how to log on and sign up to the chatting universe. Thankfully, I called up my good friend Ren Lackey, whom I had had a crush on for some time. He was a AOL buff and he helped me out by walking me through all the steps of setup. The first thing I had to do was choose a screen name. Well you can only imagine how disappointed I was to discover that Sweetie#1 had already be chosen be another user. Just then, in a joking manner, Ren suggested the name “blondieforever.” Well if he liked it . . . then I liked it, and from that day forth I would retain the pseudo name of Blondieforever! Once I was logged on, the first move I made was to im Ren; we chatted for hours online, discussing school classes and our friends. Being the class clown, funny man that he is, he told me countless jokes that day as I would respond with “LOL”, laughing out loud, or “LMAO”, laughing my ass off. I was so happy, I thought I had the world by a string.

In the days and weeks following, I grew more and more comfortable with the World Wide Web. I began to explore new websites, all of which were full of vast amounts of information and cool visuals, admittedly, some were good and some were not so good. One fine day my curiosity got the best of me as I entered a chat room for young hott singles. As soon as I logged in, at least ten people im’ed me, wanting to know all about me, asking such questions as a/s/l?, meaning “Age? Sex? Location? I was bewildered by it all! That day, I actually remember thinking to myself how many nice people were out there in the world that I had never before had the means to contact, meet or talk to. Now as I look back, knowing the things I know now, I laugh at my own childish innocence. I’m sure that all those “nice people” were older men, and I’m pretty sure that their intentions were some what less than honorable. But even still, I must say that this experience with the internet opened my eyes to the world. Just as all of life’s experiences have given me new and perspective insights to things and situations I hadn’t known before.

At age twelve, I never really thought about the world outside my immediate surroundings. At this point in my life, I began to realize, on some level, what I may see in my life time and the many opportunities that lay before me. Now, at age twenty, I am an student Advertising major at Appalachian State University, and I continue to learn new things about the internet and the world around me everyday. Perhaps this amazing internet technology abound in the world actually does give us the world on a string!