don't talk to strangers online. (and definitely don't meet up with them)

*also, this was a looong time ago, like in 1996, when the internet was just getting popular

i legit spent half my life in online chatrooms. i met a LOT of other kids my age on those chatrooms (also 12 year olds). i also met up with a lot of them in person. people i never would have met otherwise, from all over the world.

met a guy who went to a school 20 minutes away (we were in like 5th grade at the time). we became pretty good friends because we were both gamers/programmers. we still keep in touch.

met a girl on AOL when i was 13. she was also 13, from cali (A/S/L?!?! 13/f/cali). i was from NY. we kept talking for 2 years. when i was 15, i went with family to LA to visit family. i met up with her and we went mini golfing. we still keep in touch.

met at least 6-7 other people from AOL, that i talked to online, and eventually meeting up with over the next decade. still friends with most of them.

i actually lost my virginity to a girl i met on WoW. we were the same age and during college application season, we were both visiting colleges, and we both planned to visit Berkeley. so yeah.

seriously, if i followed this rule, i never would have met all these people from around the country.

BUT AGAIN, i wasn't a dumb kid. the pedophile creeps u hear so much about... there were definitely a couple people in those rooms that sounded OFF. as a non-idiotic 12 year old... you can kinda tell who was 12 and who was a 30 year old trying to sound like they were 12.