The Red and Black

Issue date: 9/30/97 Section: Undefined Section

Contributing Writer Could this be love at first byte? During the past several years the computer has a become an increasingly popular way to meet people, and more often computer users are getting involved in romantic relationships with oth- ers on the Internet. Meeting people on the Net is easy to do at the University because students have Web access through the campus com- puter labs. "When I'm bored, it's something to do," said Kelly Reynolds, a junior from Watkinsville. "I enjoy getting to know other people in Georgia." Reynolds has met five people face-to-face after communicating with them on the Net, but said only two of these meetings went well. "You build up this fantasy when talking to them," she said. "You're thinking that this could be your soul mate, and it can be very different when actually meeting them." But Jason Jones, a junior from Augusta, has been using the Internet for three years and has a different story. After getting to know a woman through the computer for four months, he finally met her and discovered she was just like the person he'd met online. The two became good friends. However, there is also poten- tial dangers when using the Internet. "It's possible for people to get information about you," said Summer Smith, a junior from Watkinsville. "It's real easy. People can do searches on you, find out where you live and what your phone number is." She said she a knew a girl whose computer friend found out her dorm number and her father's phone number as well. "It's kind of creepy when you hear about stuff like that," she said. Jones said he sometimes worries about the p o t e n t i a l danger of talking to p e o p l e online, but h e tries n o t t o think about it much. "Life in general is full of risks," he said. "So it's no big deal, really." But beware - some people find the Internet addictive. Jones said he used to talk to people about 10 hours a week. Smith said she finds herself chat- ting through her computer for about an hour each day. Reynolds spends an average of two hours a night on the Net. "Sometimes I talk for five or six hours," Reynolds said. "It's addictive. I've never been worried at all about being in danger, but I get weird people asking me to have cyber sex a lot. I'm sick of seeing 'Want to Cyber?' on my screen."

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