Strangers

I love the Internet and being in cyberspace. I can meet people that otherwise I probably would not have met and can access information with the click of a mouse. ICQ, msn, and facebook have enabled me and others alike to talk to ‘friends’ at a distance, but what about those chat rooms that you just enter and talk to whoever is there? How do you know that they are who they say they are? It is a scary thought; luckily my conscience is always lingering around and questioning whom I am talking to on the other end. It is frightening to think that an individual would lie about what their true identity is, just to fulfill some type of fixation that they have. I cannot comprehend how a person can have a thought process like that of a pedophile. I do believe that it is the circumstances that a person is exposed to that determines who they are and who they become – nurture over nature! The Internet provides more access and feasibility for people in this mindset to accomplish what they set forth to do, which is ultimately lurk on an unsuspecting child. Nowadays there are more computers in each household. Further, kids and teenagers have personal computers that are used in the privacy of their own rooms where supervision is not prevalent.

I choose not to participate in conversations in random chat rooms because of the reason(s) stated above. I prefer to know whom I am talking to because it keeps my mind at ease. The Internet is an excellent tool, and if people take appropriate precautions, I think that it can be a pleasant experience.

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