Meeting Malia

This weekend I met my long time friend Malia for the first time in person. She’s taller than I thought she’d be and when I complimented her face-do she replied “What makeup?” I started to think that maybe I didn't know her as well as I’d tried to convince my friends of the night before. “Are you sure you know this girl?”, “Don’t get cut up!”, “Let’s hope you don’t get kidnapped.” All statements and proclamations that I painted over as false though I could feel some validity in their concern seeping through my own veins. Well, where did they meet? You may be asking yourself. And I honestly can’t give you a surely certain answer.

I grew up in Detroit Michigan and though I was raised in a fairly safe neighborhood, my parents were always cautious of allowing us outside. In turn, they supported all of our indoor hobbies. For me this meant boatloads of electronics like computers, cameras, and tablets. I was born in 2004 so watching shows like iCarly and Victorious made me yearn for my own PearPhone and social account on “TheSlap”. After all, Tori Vega and Tori de Troit don’t sound too different from each other so my destiny had already been written. 

When I got my first tablet at 9 years old, my parents let me know that social media was absolutely out of the question. Considering the fact that my parents had basically banned me from doing the one thing I desired the device for, I did what any kid would do. Did it anyway.

I found a way to still engage in chat rooms and other forms of social networking that my parents couldn't recognize at first glance. My favorite was one I had discovered by mistake. I downloaded a game that allowed me to work a job at an ice cream stand, something my parents would NEVER allow me to do in real life. One day upon logging into the game noticed a small button in the bottom left corner with the word “PAPAYA” embedded into a chat icon. Curiosity got the best of me and I clicked the button.

I was introduced to what I would later know as the PapayaMobile chat network. A social platform created by game developers in Beijing to connect those who use their products. After making an account, I quickly found myself immersed in a digital world reminiscent of Twitter. On this website, a 9 year old me experienced what it was like to be a real person; outside of the confines of my parent’s home. I browsed pages, yearned for certain body types, and interacted with strangers; most of them being quite older than me, obviously. 

That was until one day my stepdad caught me texting and my parents found out about my dirty little secret. From then on, I was banished from the internet until further notice. But I’m the oldest of 15 siblings and it was only so long until my parents had to try another hand at introducing me to the responsibilities of an internet-enabled device.

KIK, Oovoo, and Monkey were all the craze at my middle school. Ways to spend time connecting with others, having fun at the price of an internet connection. I’ve traveled long and far across the world through my interactions with strangers in strange chats on strange apps. I’m pretty sure that it was down one of these dimly lit alleyways that I met my friend Malia nearly 7 years ago. 

So hey, maybe people aren't so evil on the web if I still lived to write this essay. Right?