My older brother told me to never give out my real name in AOL chat rooms.

I was 13 in 1997 and thought using my real name made me seem cool online. A guy from a chat room found my town's phone book and called my house, which scared my mom half to death. Did anyone else get a piece of early internet safety advice that seemed silly at the time but was totally right?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_wendy3mo ago

What did the guy even say when he called your house? That's so creepy. My dad gave me the same advice about not using my real name and I totally ignored him too. It felt so dumb to be "sk8rgurl203" when I could just be me. But that story proves why they were so paranoid back then, the internet was like the wild west.

faith_perez3mo ago

My friend had a guy show up at her school from a chat room.

lucas1657d ago

And what gets me is nobody's talking about how the chat room culture back then basically trained us to trust strangers. We spent hours building these deep emotional connections with random usernames, swapping secrets and dreams, and it felt real because it was real to us. That's the part that still messes with my head, we were practicing vulnerability with people who could be anyone.