Sunday, March 10, 2002

online relationships - legitimate or insignificant?

So I've created this fake instant message conversation for a class assignment. It explores, in a very corny way, the nature of online relationships. I'm trying to make people understand that they're not all empty and untruthful. The final drafts (I have two versions) are here and here.

But I think the general population will continue to misunderstand. These, I think, are the less serious instant message users. Or those who are prone to believe everything they hear. There's an interesting commentary in the Yale Daily News about this. The author is obviously an instant message user, and one who uses it often. But she still doesn't trust it. There are liars, etc. There are liars in real life. There are guys who won't call. It's easy to get your point across if you know what you're doing, if you know how to write. People need to express their misunderstanding, not just pout and take offense.

Why are people so resistent to accepting and working with the technology? Why is it automatically evil? No one liked the telephone at first either. Do people here value and trust the connections they've made online? Or are they more empty connections, convenient for times of boredom?

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