#617 Jilt E-Management

A friend of mine had an unfortunate experience an internet acquaintance. One of those “Symphony-dot-com” things.
Or “Matchbox-Lonely.”
Anyhow, the guy presented himself as something other than what he was, and only after a bit of emotional commitment, some evasion, and then some detective work, was my friend able to determine that the guy was a fraud and a schmuck.
Fortunately, he lived across the country, so no incredibly bad social embarrassment resulted. I mean, the plus side of an e-jerk is he’s not like a guy you actually met in the flesh, fell for his line, and ended up trashing your name in the community before you found out he was seeing you on the side and happily married and stuff.
E-motional mistakes hurt, but really, the computer has got to be a little bit of a buffer.
Call me primitive, but I couldn’t get totally and completely emotional if I’ve never had the physical. If I don’t have that first kiss to test the waters, all the other stuff is just so much synchronized swimming without the pool.
So not long after, I chanced to walk by an internet café. Every table had only one person. The patrons all had their laptops open. It didn’t take much to imagine that they were engaged in some sort of e-hopefulness with a potential lover on the internet.
Not wanting to be hurt, they’d be cautious.
“Where are you from?”
“Um, the Northwest.”
“What do you like to do?”
“I like to go to internet cafes.”
“Me too.”
“Yeah, it’s nice to get out and be with live people.”
“Yeah, live people are cool.”
“What do you like to drink?”
“I like a double tall, with whip.”
“Me too, and room...”
And so on. The twist, of course, is that the whole thing could be happening with their potential e-lover sitting two tables down.
And they’d never know it.
A room full of prospective lovers, all of them sucked into the internet, and ignoring the real live people around them.
Who says technology doesn’t improve life?
America, ya gotta love it