Who Was Your First Online ‘Penpal’?

Who Was Your First Online ‘Penpal’?

(My First Email of You)

Noong mga panahong di pa uso ang Internet, isa sa mga libangan ng maraming tao e ang makipagpalitan ng sulat sa mga kaibigan o kakilala sa iba’t ibang lugar. Ang tawag doon ay pakikipag-penpal. Noong nauso na ang Internet, at dumating na ang social media, mas naging maganda at mabilis ang resulta ng pagpapalitan ng mensahe na gamit ay email o mga social media platforms na gaya ng Facebook. Marami ang bumabatikos rito. Nakasisira daw ng pagkatao. Hindi naman palagi! Depende lang yan kung paano ito gagamitin ng isang tao.

When I encounter sentiments that ridicule or downplay the importance of social media, I’m among those who are always up in arms.

Because, in my 19 years of being a netizen, I have gained so much additional knowledge and developed great friendships with likeminded spirits or people with whom I share various interests and principles in life. Many of them I haven’t even met yet or only rarely see in person.

And, guess who the first ever person whom I have become friends with online was?

From 1996 to 1999, I was working at an American-owned document-analysis company in the Philippines initially as an encoder and then ultimately as a supervisor. In late 1998, we supervisors were provided email access with, so we could coordinate with our project managers in Minnesota, USA.

One of the first things I did after I had set up my email account was write an email to the address provided on the coversleeve of my newly bought (at CD Warehaus, Makati, Philippines) CD of The Lotus Eaters’ 1998-released BBC album The First Picture of You.

Guess who replied to me, which started a regular trail of correspondences that continues to this day and who has become someone I consider not only a musical hero but also a friend? Whom I was glad to have met personally in 2002 when the English band toured the Philippines?

Jeremy Kelly – the guitarist of the English band The Lotus Eaters.

Sa Madaling Salita

Taliwas sa madalas sabihin ng maraming tao laban ditto, ang social media na gaya ng Facebook e hindi dapat minamaliit. Malaki ang naitutulong nito para mapagkone-konekta ang mga taong ang hangad e mabuting pakikipagkaibigan at pagpapalitan ng opinion, kaalaman, at mga interes sa buhay. Gaya ng halos lahat ng bagay, ang kabutihan o kasamaan ng social media ay nakabatay sa gumagamit nito. Kung ito ay ginagamit para sa ikauunlad ng kaisipan at pagkatao e di mabuti. Kung kabaligtaran, e ano pa nga ba?