posted 06-17-2001 02:36 PM            

Being a computer user and chatting with strangers has advantages and disadvantages. I would like to talk about the disadvantages.

Sitting behind a monitor and using the key board while talking and dealing with people makes one anonymous, or so it would seem.

Even though we cannot see the other person or they us our words and actions paint a vivid picture of who we each are. Each time I read a post or email, my mind conjures up an image of what that person might look like. Is he or she a mother, father, do they have children etc, but I tend to forget that these people, like myself, also have feelings, and can have those feelings stepped on.

It is easy to fire off knee jerk reactions when you cannot see the face of the one you are firing on. Rather than think through a reasonable response and post that, first thoughts tend to spring to the screen.
The firing of that first salvo can never be taken back, words spoken in anger or without thought cannot be returned to the lips that spoke them. And feelings once hurt or crushed
will always bear the scar.