I played pool with Adam558. My restricted 2 hours a weekend, on the internet as a thirteen year old, was spent with a stranger. Remember those days where the drag and the click of the mouse was entertaining? No smell of cigarettes, no poor choice of music from the jukebox, no bad aim and missed shots. Pool was fun with strangers, even when I was terrible at it in real life. But pool was actually not where I met Adam558.

I was a late comer to ICQ. Still, I can proudly declare how caveman I am for being a part of that era. The numbered username and unforgettable ‘uh oh’ was a gateway to chat rooms and a world without borders. So there I was, meeting strangers and ultimately befriending Adam558.

It all started with the greeting text you probably know so well: ASL - age, sex, location. Adam558 was older than me, he lived in my country, and if his name wasn't a dead giveaway, he was a guy. I believed everything Adam558 told me. From how he had mixed blood - an allure to the naive me - to how his life was traumatic. He painted himself as a good boy with a bad background in a string of charming words. My parents were not aware I was chatting up this stranger. So even though I was cautious and careful not to give out my home address, I was still a gullible teenager. But here is where the story comes to a bore.

Be honest, you were expecting a tale of exploitation. A tale where I am used and abused over the internet. A story so brutally honest, you would force your children to read it as a warning. So let me disappoint you. Adam558 did nothing to me. He didn’t ask for my picture, he didn’t ask for my phone number, he didn’t even ask for my email address. All Adam558 wanted was to talk, and all I wanted was to listen.

It’s almost unbelievable how innocent the internet once was. No predators seeking out children to kidnap, no flashing of body parts to young eyes, and no ulterior motive when sharing a personal story. Now, I cannot say if Adam558 was truly genuine. Perhaps he was putting up an act. I don’t know. Adam558 is not even his original username, as it has been over ten years since I’ve spoken to him. Heck, I can’t even remember when we stopped chatting and playing pool. All my memory can recall is someone whom I called friend. Someone I’ve never seen in person, someone whose voice I’ve never heard, someone who saw me as a stranger but found trust in me.

Today, the internet is a scary place. You can’t accept that friend request because that stranger could be a stalker, a creeper, and possibly a murderer. You group your friends in different privacy settings, just in case an acquaintance decides to rob you when you’re away on holiday. You find yourself subjected to racial and sexual comments from MyUsernameIsTheBest and Spoderman88. You get into a debate with a stranger just because you have different beliefs. No more fun pool games where the dotted lines help you score a point. All there is is a young boy cursing your mother because you headshot him in an online first person shooter. This is the internet today. Technology has brought us this far.

I’m not saying that the internet is a house of horror. It is a wonderful creation which has advanced to make our lives better. But its humble beginning is now a mere memory. Those days cannot be relived. It is sad to see today’s generation unable to experience what we did as ‘cavemen’. They might scoff at the pixelated computer games and cover their ears at the sound from a dial up modem, but they cannot smile knowing that a stranger simply wanted to be their friend. Even if they yearned for a connection outside their four walls, their parents would not allow it - we would not allow it.

“Children, what did I tell you about talking to strangers? Don’t give your name or your age to anyone you don’t know. Don’t give your email address or mention the country you come from. You want to start a blog? Great! But be careful. Don’t share your heart and make yourself vulnerable. There are people out there that want to hurt you. Make sure you don’t simply add strangers on Facebook. Do you know that girl personally? Oh, she’s your classmate? Have you spoken to her before? If you don’t even speak to her in school, there’s no need to add her. Be vigilant!”

Perhaps this sounds a little extreme. Perhaps it is totally understandable. Perhaps this is how we should treat the internet. But children, the internet was once a pretty place.

The world was truly without borders and people could find true friendships through forums, game rooms, and blogs. There was no need to hide everything, because the majority of users did not want to hurt you. We did not call each other names, degrade individuals for their choices, make fun of someone’s mistake, and turn a smile into a frown. Don’t believe me? If only we had a time machine to prove it. Unfortunately, technology has not gone that far. Still, this was how it was and you can bring those days back.

You don’t have to jeopardize your security by being genuine. You don’t have to worry about being stalked by being kind. You don’t have to play online pool to accept defeat with grace. You don’t have to have a fancy username to be Adam558. Don’t add that stranger, but don’t curse him either. Don’t give your phone number, but offer a compliment instead. We don’t have to go back to the internet’s stone age to experience the simplicity, genuinity, and innocence of the glorious world wide web. The power is in our hands and the choice is ours to make.