Katherine Tarbox’s story “A Girl’s Life Online,” gives us a horrific picture about herself when she was a young and innocent thirteen year old girl. She met Mark in an online teenage chat room and began to develop a virtual friendship with him. At first, he claimed that he was twenty-three years old then he changed his age to thirty-one. His real age was forty-one. This online predator preyed upon Kathy whom he found to be naïve and gullible. He was able to deceive her by telling her things that she wanted to hear. He even bought her gifts. He was so convinced that he captured her heart by making a very bold move to meet with her. Fortunately, her friend reported her missing to her mom who alerted the hotel security, and they were able to save her in the nick of time. This story serves as a testament to the fact that there can be a lot of deception and harm for a person who is trying to make friendship with someone unknown. This story should open the eyes of parents as to the dangers teenagers face as they cultivate online relationships with people they establish a rapport with online. It is unfortunate that online predators would target their victims who are as young as thirteen and fourteen. Tweens and teens need to be wary of who they chat with online and must at all times exercise caution.
I would recommend every teenager and every parent to read "A Girl's Life Online" written by eighteen year Katherine Tarbox. Tarbox was a top student and nationally ranked swimmer but she was very lonely. Her parents were workalcoholics so they had no time for her. In her book, Tarbox tells about her experience with her online boyfriend and how it has affected her life. Tarbox's memoir demonstrates what it is like to be a girl in the Internet Age.
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