Caught in the Net (the Internet, that is) :: Personal Narrative, essay about myself

"Hello. My name is Kim. I'm an online-aholic." There. I've said it. I guess I've been addicted for quite some time now, but I have just begun to realize it. My first interaction with the "Net" began when I was only 15 years old. My dad was the computer coordinator at our school, so he wanted to try Internet access at home before installing it at school. We became America Online members in 1993. None of my friends had e-mail back then. My relationship with e-mail started like a Romeo/Juliet conspiracy. I experimented with the Net on the sly at night when the rest of my family was sleeping. That's when I first created my own screen name. Although I was too young to drive, the locked doors of adolescence were suddenly flung open before me. I could be social in the evening rather than hang out with my family-the typical family that every adolescent wants to escape from. Hanging out in chat rooms became a nightly ritual. I quickly found friends who would meet me there, give advice for my adolescent problems, and discuss things such as dating, theater, religion, morals, and entertainment. I began to form emotional attachments with these new friends. In fact, I maintained two online relationships for over two years. Raul is a Hispanic teenager living in one of the roughest cities in our nation, Compton, California-the filming location of the 1991 movie Boyz 'N the Hood. I met Raul in a chat room one night. He sent me an instant message in the middle of a discussion about religion and asked what I believed. My subsequent chats with Raul seemed to have an impact on him and helped me to grow in my own faith. I occasionally took Raul's questions to my preacher or Bible teacher when I needed further explanation. For Raul's 18th birthday, I sent him a Bible that I bought with my paper-route earnings. Raul and I wrote each other for two years, and then Raul had to sell his computer. I haven't heard from him since. Brian is a middle-aged high-school theater teacher in Bowie, Maryland. He answered one of my message board posts about an upcoming audition for our school's performance of The Sound of Music. I was 17 years old at the time and greatly desired a part in the musical. Brian had expert advice for how to nail the audition, and as a result I was cast in the role of Maria. Caught in the Net (the Internet, that is) :: Personal Narrative, essay about myself "Hello. My name is Kim. I'm an online-aholic." There. I've said it. I guess I've been addicted for quite some time now, but I have just begun to realize it. My first interaction with the "Net" began when I was only 15 years old. My dad was the computer coordinator at our school, so he wanted to try Internet access at home before installing it at school. We became America Online members in 1993. None of my friends had e-mail back then. My relationship with e-mail started like a Romeo/Juliet conspiracy. I experimented with the Net on the sly at night when the rest of my family was sleeping. That's when I first created my own screen name. Although I was too young to drive, the locked doors of adolescence were suddenly flung open before me. I could be social in the evening rather than hang out with my family-the typical family that every adolescent wants to escape from. Hanging out in chat rooms became a nightly ritual. I quickly found friends who would meet me there, give advice for my adolescent problems, and discuss things such as dating, theater, religion, morals, and entertainment. I began to form emotional attachments with these new friends. In fact, I maintained two online relationships for over two years. Raul is a Hispanic teenager living in one of the roughest cities in our nation, Compton, California-the filming location of the 1991 movie Boyz 'N the Hood. I met Raul in a chat room one night. He sent me an instant message in the middle of a discussion about religion and asked what I believed. My subsequent chats with Raul seemed to have an impact on him and helped me to grow in my own faith. I occasionally took Raul's questions to my preacher or Bible teacher when I needed further explanation. For Raul's 18th birthday, I sent him a Bible that I bought with my paper-route earnings. Raul and I wrote each other for two years, and then Raul had to sell his computer. I haven't heard from him since. Brian is a middle-aged high-school theater teacher in Bowie, Maryland. He answered one of my message board posts about an upcoming audition for our school's performance of The Sound of Music. I was 17 years old at the time and greatly desired a part in the musical. Brian had expert advice for how to nail the audition, and as a result I was cast in the role of Maria.