Read Online Socially Awkward by Stephanie Haddad - Free Book Online
Authors: Stephanie Haddad
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encountered so far .”
“No fines or penalties or anything?” Dr. C hase was just being cautious, I could tell from her tone.
“As long as I’m not impersonating someone real, I’m good.”
She nodded, then handed me the proposal back. “You should keep an eye on the main news sites. See if there are any real-life cases you can follow to further your study.”
“Actually, there are a couple already, mostly people posing as ex-boyfriends and stuff. But I saw one report where the FBI was actually using fake Facebook profiles to watch and monitor known criminals. I’m not the FBI, obviously, but it makes me feel better to know law enforcement has been doing this too.” I tried to laugh a little to break the tension.
Dr. C hase smiled back. “You should learn more about that for the paper. Talk about how criminals post so liberally online and don’t realize how easily they can get busted that way.”
“So am I good to go?” I stood up, tucking the paper into the front pocket of my messenger bag.
“I think so,” she said, eying me. “Just, Jennifer .. ?”
I looked up at her.
“Try to remember that this is just a project. I’ve seen too many students get wrapped up in their research and go over the deep-end . It’s just a project and your research is meant to be a temporary thing. Don’t get carried away with this fake profile business, okay? Especially pitting her against you online, there’s a chance of losing yourself in the shuffle.”
“I think I can handle it, Dr. C. It’s only for now, and then I’ll delete the entire thing . I’m not actually playing Olivia; I’m just using the name as a vehicle.” But even as I said the words, I heard the false note in my voi ce. Aside from talking to Sean, I wasn’t actually pretending to be Olivia. Not really.
Dr. Chase seemed to hear the truth in my voice too, given her skeptical look. She watched me for a moment before nodding. “Just keep it in mind,” she said.
As I stepped out of her office into the main foyer of the sociology department, I shook her words off. I mean, it was only for a few months. And Olivia would stay strictly online. I’d pretended to be different people before and that hadn’t hurt anyone. How was this any different from a regular game of childhood dress up?
CHAPTER SIX
Meanwhile, back on the internet, another influx of accepted friend requests wait ed for me in my notifications that night . Another five random men who had received Olivia’s friend request, taken one look at her picture, and accepted her as a new friend, no questions asked. They didn’t know her, probably didn’t have anything in common with her, but that didn’t seem to matter in the slightest. A pretty face, hot body, and the protected anonymity of social networking facilitated the easiest friend-making process a girl like me had ever experienced. Of course, I was only experiencing it because I was hiding behind the shield of a made-up identity, but still. Easy peasy.
So far my alter-ego had collected a whopping 94 friends, without even breaking a sweat. The long—and growing—list gave me a quiet thrill. Was this how pretty people felt? Or was this so easy to do just because of the virtual aspect of this experience? I grabbed my notebook and started jotting down some of these half-thoughts and questions, all fodder for my planned research paper. Less than two weeks into my project, this impromptu idea was already paying off.
I scanned through the list of my new acquaintances, or rather, the people I had snowed into believing my fake self was a live human being. Most of them were male, unsurprisingly, but there were a scattered few females throughout the list. While I was lost in a scrolling sea of headshot photographs and names that seemed just about as real as Olivia Saunders, my dinner grew cold beside me.
Then, out of the blue, an instant message popped up. It was
“No fines or penalties or anything?” Dr. C hase was just being cautious, I could tell from her tone.
“As long as I’m not impersonating someone real, I’m good.”
She nodded, then handed me the proposal back. “You should keep an eye on the main news sites. See if there are any real-life cases you can follow to further your study.”
“Actually, there are a couple already, mostly people posing as ex-boyfriends and stuff. But I saw one report where the FBI was actually using fake Facebook profiles to watch and monitor known criminals. I’m not the FBI, obviously, but it makes me feel better to know law enforcement has been doing this too.” I tried to laugh a little to break the tension.
Dr. C hase smiled back. “You should learn more about that for the paper. Talk about how criminals post so liberally online and don’t realize how easily they can get busted that way.”
“So am I good to go?” I stood up, tucking the paper into the front pocket of my messenger bag.
“I think so,” she said, eying me. “Just, Jennifer .. ?”
I looked up at her.
“Try to remember that this is just a project. I’ve seen too many students get wrapped up in their research and go over the deep-end . It’s just a project and your research is meant to be a temporary thing. Don’t get carried away with this fake profile business, okay? Especially pitting her against you online, there’s a chance of losing yourself in the shuffle.”
“I think I can handle it, Dr. C. It’s only for now, and then I’ll delete the entire thing . I’m not actually playing Olivia; I’m just using the name as a vehicle.” But even as I said the words, I heard the false note in my voi ce. Aside from talking to Sean, I wasn’t actually pretending to be Olivia. Not really.
Dr. Chase seemed to hear the truth in my voice too, given her skeptical look. She watched me for a moment before nodding. “Just keep it in mind,” she said.
As I stepped out of her office into the main foyer of the sociology department, I shook her words off. I mean, it was only for a few months. And Olivia would stay strictly online. I’d pretended to be different people before and that hadn’t hurt anyone. How was this any different from a regular game of childhood dress up?
CHAPTER SIX
Meanwhile, back on the internet, another influx of accepted friend requests wait ed for me in my notifications that night . Another five random men who had received Olivia’s friend request, taken one look at her picture, and accepted her as a new friend, no questions asked. They didn’t know her, probably didn’t have anything in common with her, but that didn’t seem to matter in the slightest. A pretty face, hot body, and the protected anonymity of social networking facilitated the easiest friend-making process a girl like me had ever experienced. Of course, I was only experiencing it because I was hiding behind the shield of a made-up identity, but still. Easy peasy.
So far my alter-ego had collected a whopping 94 friends, without even breaking a sweat. The long—and growing—list gave me a quiet thrill. Was this how pretty people felt? Or was this so easy to do just because of the virtual aspect of this experience? I grabbed my notebook and started jotting down some of these half-thoughts and questions, all fodder for my planned research paper. Less than two weeks into my project, this impromptu idea was already paying off.
I scanned through the list of my new acquaintances, or rather, the people I had snowed into believing my fake self was a live human being. Most of them were male, unsurprisingly, but there were a scattered few females throughout the list. While I was lost in a scrolling sea of headshot photographs and names that seemed just about as real as Olivia Saunders, my dinner grew cold beside me.
Then, out of the blue, an instant message popped up. It was
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