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Loading ...Ever find it weird when you are casually playing your online games and making all those adult content jokes, only to find out that the person you are talking to is a young teen?
I know there is the huge controversy about them looking at things they shouldn’t, or meeting people they shouldn’t that could harm them. I’m not even talking about all of that, I am more talking about the awkwardness you feel when you find out your guild leader in WoW is a 14 year old boy. I mean, any respect you had for that level 60 character is just out the window when they start talking about how much they think some little teeny bopper is oh so cute.
Not to mention when you are casually reading your Myspace emails and some underage Myspacer is seeking you out. I mean really, what do you say to that? As soon as I see that profile my brain is just screaming “run away”. The fact of the matter is that teens are on the net a lot, also means in all of our favorite computer games. Couldn’t they just offer a different server for the younger ones? That way I don’t go into some stunned silence when I find out their age and have no idea what to say. The best thing I have come up with thus far is “Oh, that’s nice”.
I know what you mean. It can be awkward at times. I’ve met some of these folks back when I was still gaming on Quake III (I was working as a software engineer in R&D) and they turned out to be in their teens to late teens, with some in college. Being almost twice their age, it made me felt more like a bigger brother, so in some way, I felt compelled to teach them the ways of the world … though mostly, it end up being the ways of the Quake world! ;)
In any case, as a guy, it’s probably less often to get hit on online. So these days, the few times I bump into a teen in gadget forums, I don’t really mind. Matter of fact, when one of them revealed to me his age (16), I was happy and honored that he trusted me enough to tell me his age, as he kept it a secret from the others in the forum, fearing that they will just brush him off as a kid in future.
So the next time you meet a teen, feel honored that they come to you honestly with their age, and accept the friendship. … just my thoughts anyway :)