AOL. America Online.
Every few days it seemed, a new cd would come in the mail. I'd take it dutifully to my father and beg him to put it on the computer. He would load the latest version and when he was done, the familiar voice would call out:
"You've got mail!"
My brother and I would climb onto the desk to check our email. I was barely 10, but being online soon became my favorite activity.
I would navigate through websites and chat rooms with ease. I didn't understand why my mother and father had problems with something that came so naturally to me. The mouse felt like an extension of me, one I never even knew was missing until we reconnected.
The internet seemed to call to me, to pull me in. I wanted to do nothing else but sit in front of the glowing computer screen. My parents would call from the other room:
"It's bed time now! Get off the computer! Say goodbye to your friends!"
"I'm coming, I'm coming..." I'd mumble back, not really having heard what they said.
Finally, my dad would come into the room and stand over my shoulder.
"Nothing good happens after 10 o'clock, in real life or online."
Every night an argument would ensue, and I was always on the losing end.
And he was right-nothing good ever did happen. I broke all of the internet safety rules my teachers and parents tried to instill in me
Don't talk to strangers? But they seem so harmless!
Don't give anyone my phone number? But how else am I supposed to talk to my new friends when you kick me off the computer at 10?
Don't share personal information? But they're my friends...
Without a second thought, I had become an online predators fantasy-naive and trusting.
I, like every teen, thought I was immune-Those horror stories on the TV surely won't happen to little old me.
And I got lucky. They didn't.
Only recently have I realized the danger I could have put myself in. And also recently, I learned my Dad was so very right-
"Nothing good happens after 10 o'clock, in real life or online."
