Do you remember sitting in a chatroom, watching people chat, or even chatting yourself? Do you remember receiving so many forwards that your mailbox was ready to explode? How about receiving 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 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.
Forwarded to me in 2005
Guido, when I started to read this I thought your were going to suggest that we start a chat in a room and try again to experience the good times and fun we had in chat rooms on AOL.
ReplyDeleteI see that was not your intent. I enjoyed the post and agree with most of it.
Wonder if a a chat would work if one was set up. Google does provide a nice set up for chats, even inclunding voice and video if you care to use it.
Maybe this reply will promp someone to attempt a chat room session. Have a good day or night and stay warm. Bill
Wonderful sentiments. I couldn't agree more. (Hugs)Indigo
ReplyDeleteGuido, too often I've seen those who befriend people online and then leave them bereft for whatever reason...other priorities, boredom, an inability to commit? Who knows, but it's uncaring and unfair.
ReplyDeleteIt's important for all of us to remember that there is a person behind the email address. In the lab, we always said, "There's a person behind the number," and that's good advice here, too.
Great entry, and a great reminder of the importance of honesty online as well as in real life.
All my best,
Beth
Great entry Guido. My mom used to tell me "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all." We should show the same courtesy to those we encounter on line. Linda in Washington
ReplyDeletewonderful post!
ReplyDeletehuggies...
Great post Guido, I do chat online quite a bit with messenger etc to keep in touch with friends.
ReplyDeleteI'm not with AOL anymore so i cannot join in the chats, but Google have quite a good chat feature as do Yahoo and MSN.
Yasmin
Doug & I have met and made some wonderful friends through forums ~ quite a few have actually visited our home/farm. But we are who we are and don't pretend to be someone or something we're not.
ReplyDeleteIt's never a game when a persons feelings are on the line and shouldn't be treated as one by anyone. That is just wrong and mean.
great entry. I have let myself care deeply for a few online that turned out to be total phonies...or freaking INSANE.....so i am gun shy and now not the same person i was when i first went online or met others in J Land.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea what you look like but you are my forever friend. No question about that. I have not ever figured out chat rooms though.
I was duped into thinking I had a friend that I`d met in a chatroom. I won`t go into sordid detail apart from saying the `female` friend was a very unpleasant male. I won`t visit another chatroom because it could be worse next time.
ReplyDeleteLove Sandra xx
And as worthwhile today, albeit message boards and blogs should be included in there. Oh, yes, I've actually met a few of my online friends (in public spots in groups, albeit it was not needed). Remembering that someone is a real person makes it hard for me to do anything like online dating, as I won't be rude yet, like most women, I got bombarded........ I've learned a lot in these past 8 years. It was 8 years ago this weekend that I got a personal e-mail address. Some online friends that I made then, I am STILL close with. One guy turned out to be married, after several us would hang out and he started dating a woman in the group (NOT me)........ but, mostly, staying away from the fray, watching myself, not going into many chatrooms, I've made some friends w/out the limitations one might have in the visual, 3-D hearing world. It CAN be a good thing.
ReplyDeleteI've never visited a chatroom and never will. Not knowing who it is I'm really talking to doesn't appeal to me. I prefer journals where I've got to know people; I'm glad I started on AOL journals, it seems that they were a great group of people. Jeannette xx
ReplyDeleteGuido.
ReplyDeleteWhat a heartfelt entry. I could not agree with you more.
I have chatted with people online who in time have won me over and yes a couple i have allowed myself to get hurt by. I used to quiz in the AOL rooms on a regular basis and we had some fun but that seems to have vanished these days, there seems to be so much arguing going on and also a lot of people who just want to disrupt it for everyone else. Saying that i have found a quiz room which is mainly filled with Americans who made me feel at home straight away.... so who knows ... we will see what happens.
I have been hurt badly by a couple of guys and that does make you very wary
hugs Jayne