Strangers on the Web

There used to be the Cobbs Hill perverts, the 7-Eleven perverts, and the Putt-Putt perverts. When I was a young boy, my mom was sure that every unknown person was a pervert. Thus, going outside after 7 p.m. meant only the worst. Strangely, the Internet was never mentioned as the big problem. Maybe it was because of how innocent the Internet looked before the Craigslist, MySpace, and Facebook stalkers made Putt-Putt perverts look like Barney and Friends. Maybe it was because my mom was overprotective. In any case, I stayed indoors, but not offline.

Ten years later I have finally gotten over my fear of late-night minigolf. But I am still unscathed by the reports of digital dangers, fearlessly using Twitter and every other new innovation that the Web presents. Though researchers continue presenting new studies on the insecurity of everyday mobile phones, radio frequency devices, and every other new thing, I continue to use the Internet like a personal dollhouse, unperturbed by its risks.

Maybe it would be best if people like me stayed away from computers and the Internet. It’s not that difficult to stop interacting with people virtually, to keep public information limited, and to use a computer solely for e-mail, some news, and the occasional computer science problem. Old people seem to do it just fine.

But it isn’t easy to go back to the early days and start treating the Internet as impersonally as I once did. Many, including me and others at Columbia, have a need to interact with new people. This need is what NSOP, a program led by ridiculous elitists who rejected my application to be an Orientation Leader, is all about. It’s what keeps the pockets of Gregory Waldorf, CEO of eHarmony, nicely plump. It’s what makes trolls on Bwog feel like they have friends. One could argue that adapting to new social situations and meeting new people are important skills that are even helped by the growth of virtual networks. It seems, with all this growth in online connectivity, as though people love meeting others and connecting with them instantly.

One new product that only helps this xenophilic tendency is called the “Poken.” It’s a small animal-shaped device with a giant hand that detaches to reveal a USB drive. Bring two Pokens close to one another and the digital information is instantly shared via radio frequency identification. The makers of Poken proclaim that this is the new face of social networking, bridging the gap between virtual and real friendships and strangers.

The Poken might seem like another great social networking advance, but it’s not without its issues. First, no one I know owns one, making them hard to really use. Second, though its makers suggest that Pokens are like virtual business cards, they seem to reveal too much information too easily about someone’s virtual networks. In addition, it’s a little creepy to find someone so eager to make new friends in the real world to add to a virtual Rolodex that he or she buys a device for that express purpose.

There’s another growing fad on the Internet that doesn’t involve sharing information at all. It’s called Omegle, and it appeals to those looking for whacked out conversations with random strangers. Like a late-night talk line, Omegle gives those with too much time on their hands the opportunity to “interact” with others in short instant message conversations.

Omegle is a simple Web site that’s absolutely crazy. Two people press a button and are instantly connected, with the ability to say or do whatever they please. With complete anonymity, the conversations are usually terse and awkward, the users frightened and allured by the idea of the stranger on the other side. Unlike the Poken, there is no actual connection to the real world between the two, and no real chance for outside communication.

Despite their fundamental differences, these two ideas have something interesting in common: their support of and push for a virtual networking system that mirrors our real-life interactions. And, even though many would say that meeting new people online is creepy, it is undeniable that virtual networking is growing in popularity. According to one source, 2% of all new American marriages have started with eHarmony. Web sites like Facebook are attracting hundreds of millions every day.

Maybe we should embrace these statistics like the comfort blankets they are and run headfirst into the next great Web innovation with arms wide open. Still, it might be best if we took a little time away from the Internet scene to consider its dangers. At the very least, we should start scaring our kids about it.

Akiva Bamberger is a Columbia College junior majoring in computer science and mathematics with a premedical concentration. He is president of the Association for Computing Machinery. Bits and Pieces runs alternate Wednesdays. opinion@columbiaspectator.com

Tags: Opinion, Akiva Bamberger, Internet, internet age, social networking, the Internet