Cyberstalker? No, It's just Ryan.

Judging by this day and age I would assume that just about every person, if not every person, uses instant messaging. It is a common way of communication that is beginning to cause lack of face-to-face communication. However, that is not my point today, rather the unexpected messages that come up every once in a while. I am sure that this has happened to everyone. It does not seem to be to out of ordinary. Still, it can be very startling. When I get a random message from someone it is because I gave him or her my screen name, but the other day, this was not the case.

I was sitting at my computer doing homework as usual. As I was just about to quit my instant messaging, I received a message. The message did not make me nervous until I clicked the screen to read it. I gave a quick glance at the message, which read, “mwhahahahaha.” Judging by this odd laughing, I glanced at the screen name of the sender expecting it to be my brother, but did not recognize the name. This caused me to worry, and all that ran through my head were the words “crazy stranger.” I began to feel like I was being watched. In the strong point of this feeling I began to look around as if I were to find some hidden cameras behind a picture frame or something along those lines. After, a quick glance around my room and out in the hallway, I decided to respond. I answered the message with “hello, who is this?” Yet again the sender sent “mwhahahahaha.” At this point I was ready to sign off, and release the feeling that I was being watched by webcam. The unidentified stranger, messaged again, but this time with an ellipses. I thought to myself that maybe, I should be able to figure out who this person is. Unfortunately the strong feeling of, I think I am being watched, overcame my intelligence. While I was thinking of stalkers, the random sender sent me another message, but this time it said “it’s Ryan.” When I read this, all the oh my goodness I am being watched, stalked, and hunted down by strangers thoughts vanished from my brain. I responded with a quick “hey! How are you?” in hopes that, that would cover up my hesitation to talk beforehand.

After, I finished talking to Ryan, I looked at his screen name. Then I realized, if I had just read the screen name more carefully I would have known who was messaging me right away. His last name is even in his screen name. Wow, I can be a little ignorant sometimes, or maybe I watch too much CSI.