Teenager Dumped By Chat-Room Girlfriend
CYBERSPACE - Joey Passmore is alone. The 14-year-old Internet enthusiast recently lost his cyber-girlfriend and computer soulmate, LUV_U2, and he's not sure how to deal with the confusing new emotions that have begun to stir inside him.
"I don't understand," moped Joey. "I gave her my love, my devotion, and the IP's of some private FTP sites. "
Joey, 14, never met LUV_U2 in Real Life™. They met online almost two months ago, but were committed to each other after only a few short chat sessions over a two-week period.
"Something clicked right from the start," said Joey. "I admit, I found her choice of avatar sexually attractive, but there's more to her than just that. I would show up in the #lookN4love chatroom on Undernet, and we would share the time together, while we did homework, watched 'Mad About You' repeats, and played PopCap games over the Net."
"I thought we had something special," continued Joey. "I would send her e-cards, and links to special poems that were written for people like us. I even photoshopped our avatars together on a Martian landscape--way romantic. But then that one evening, she came into the IRC channel and was really quiet. I knew something was wrong."
Joey has been unable to talk about his break-up with family members and even considered selling his computer, and joining the school volleyball team, just to get away from the pain. At fourteen, break-ups are awkward to deal with. This was Joey's first romance and he believes his few friends at school would only laugh at him if he mentioned it to any of them.
"Those guys at school would only want to know how far I got, like did she send pictures of her tits, or something like that," said an angry Joey. "They wouldn't understand it was so much more than that."
His only source of closure has been a couple of Internet love forums that he has bookmarked on his web browser.
"I posted a message on a message board for heartbroken individuals who were recently dumped," said Joey, sobbing quietly, "but the only response was from some joker who asked how I knew it wasn't a man I was dating. How cruel can you get?"
"We were at that stage in our relationship where we were almost ready to exchange ICQ numbers, a huge leap in commitment," said Joey, wiping his nose. "Someday I had hoped we could swap actual snail-mail addresses, maybe even a photo, and then, who knows after that? I guess she got scared. I don't understand."
Joey isn't sure he can trust cyberwomen anymore, and is afraid to reveal his true self online to another. He may find escape by interacting only with girls he knows from school, church, and his neighbourhood. But that would mean meeting them and Joey isn't ready for social encounters yet.
"I may never be able to cyberdate again," cried Joey. "I've been hurt once, and now I may never be able to use that same alias. "
Joey almost deleted the chat logs he had with LUV_U2 in a fit of anger. "I was hurt, and I wanted to hurt. But now, those lines of text are the only thing I have left to cherish," said Joey. "The smilicons we shared were special, but now I may never smilicon again."



Life is sexually transmitted

*Chokes* I've had something similar happen on a lesser (maybe greater scale) we were long distance but met up several times. I know what he's saying but he's an idiot. Hello you're 14! GET OVER IT ALREADY!

-~-~-~-~
You have called down the Thunder. Now reap the Whirlwind.
Warning! In the intrest of safety it is advisable to keep Heltak away from Fire and Flames!
He that humbleth himself wishes to be exalted.
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
Friedrich Nietzsche

I'm not so sure that this isn't a joke. The article reads like something I'd find in The Onion.

Yep, Heltak, he took it too seriously, but, on the one hand, I think he's desperate and in need of real friendship, and, on the other hand, he finds virtual friendship is a lot more easier than the real one; however, in case of a break-up, it's just as painful. Frankly, I don't have the guts to laugh at him - I remember too well how stupidly romantic I was at his age.
And I'm not sure it's just age. C'mon, man, haven't you ever found it difficult to as a chick for a date? Even if you do meet, talking to her is kinda complicated, huh? When I look back at my first dates, I feel I was behaving like an idiot . Now, think of a chick on ICQ or whatever. Much easier, isn't it? See, it's easy to judge from a distance, but when you think of your own kids (the real or the hypothetical ones) when they reach the fertile age... they WILL have problems and will have to get over them but it'll not be easy. Personally, I'm planning to keep my kid away from the net chats untill he finds a real girl.

Life is sexually transmitted

Yea I'm at the stage where one of my better friends also happens to be someone I'm attracted to. I can flirt but I never get much further.

-~-~-~-~
You have called down the Thunder. Now reap the Whirlwind.
Warning! In the intrest of safety it is advisable to keep Heltak away from Fire and Flames!
He that humbleth himself wishes to be exalted.
Hope in reality is the worst of all evils because it prolongs the torments of man.
Friedrich Nietzsche

Outch, Indy, I was late. Yes, it's intended as a joke, ant it was posted on a jokes site. However, they had the picture of the kid (which, of course, could be fake), and I don't really think this kind of stuff doesn't happen for real.

Life is sexually transmitted

@zlo

I think you will be surprised. We have a regular "Dear Deirdrie" column in on of the national tabloids. The frequency of these type of people are getting larger.

Dear Deirdrie

I have met and found my soulmate on an internet chatroom. She wants to meet up and go out for a drink. I don't think shes going to like me though. She said she was 18 i told her i was 20, but i'm actually 55, married and have 3 kids. What should i do?

Mr X


Well, Mr X, this will certainly teach for being a complete t*t. I would suggest that you tell this poor girl, if of course she is a girl, that you are actually 55 years old. I may also like to suggest...Stop being a t*t.

Obviously i just made that up, but these type of stories are written in to loads of agony aunt sort of things in our newspapers. I once had a real bad experience through a chat line. The woman i was talking went a bit psycho on me and started to send loads of pictures to me of her and her baby son. So i told her i was married

What weird world we're living in!

Life is sexually transmitted

I don't know, what's the world coming to? that's even worse than only having online friends. imagine what sort of emotionally crippled t*sser can only interact with other people via a keyboard oh dear that's me isn't it I think i d better shut up now.

What is with everyone chaing thier usenames lately?

As for the story, i have experienced much the same thing, and Esq hits the solution right on the nose:

Trust No-One

and i never will

Uuuhm, you guys may find it hard to understand, but those of us who are around here that are that age (or like me, who is that age) don't actually know what a poresome life we have to lead to have fun here on TLR and talk to you guys. I think it's easier to say that (as we're the newer generation) or RL actually sucks big ass. I think that some people can agree to what I've said. And what the post concerns, I can 100% imagine it's true, oh yes I can (I do know quite a few girls on the i-net, although, not through love sites/IRC etc, more over similiar gaming interests on a server). You guys should think about it first.

And Heltak: I'd say something now, but I wouldn't

The woman that stalked me i didn't originally meet through a chat line. I was running around with a machine gun in Counter Strike She then asked if i wanted a chat with her over MSN, which, against my own better judgement i did. I don't play CS anymore

@heltak

I've been in that situation before. Thats a horrible situation you find yourself in when that happens.

Edited by - bret bretonian on 9/1/2004 4:39:51 AM

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As for the story, i have experienced much the same thing, and Esq hits the solution right on the nose:

Trust No-One

and i never will

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*Sniff* Another convert, I'm so proud!