The Wire
Are you on the Wire?by Gillian To
It’s after school. You sit on the bus eagerly anticipating the stop to the place you call “the hood.” Scrambling out of the bus and into your cozy house, you throw your bag on to the floor and glide across the living room to the computer. You quickly type in the website address as if your life depended on it, while waiting for what seems like a lifetime. Finally you’re at ease as the letters TDW pop up on the screen. You login.
If this is a regular routine for you, you may have Tdotitis, a severe addiction to the website Tdotwire (http://www.tdotwire.com).
Sites such as Myspace, Facebook, HI5 and ZUUP have been running for a long tedious years. Much like your HI5 and ZUUP where users network and browse through blogs and profiles, TDW (short for Tdotwire) falls in place. With approximately 5200 members online daily, it’s no wonder why TDW has grown to be the most addictive forum site for teens who reside in the GTA and Toronto. TDW has been successfully running for 4 years. The number of new members registering is growing everyday.Tdotwire is much more than your average run-of-the-mill forum site. It’s a place where teenagers as well as young adults connect through pictures, profiles, forums, tag boards, and private messages. It’s a site where promoters put provocative flyer ads of their up-and-coming all ages’ events. Of course, let’s not forget about ratings, the leading reason why most Tdotwire members post their photogenic, enticing, and racy photos of themselves.
“Tdotwire is like a drug for me. I get to look at pretty girls and privately message them. A lot of my boys have an account on Tdotwire. It’s just a fun way to waste time,” says Jun, a Grade 12 male student of J.C.I.
TDW has grown to be more than “just a waste of time.” It’s the new virtual reality where teens find themselves entwined between reality and cyberspace.
This could partially explain why teens have grown to be dependent on TDW. Self-esteem plays a big role in TDW members. Viewers who browse pages can rate a person’s profile (in terms of looks) from 1 and 10 (1 being terrible and 10 being spectacular). Consequently, these ratings either raise your confidence or provoke you to put a paper bag over your head.“I’m confident and I know I’m sexy. I like going on TDW, because of the forums and the ability to put my opinion out there. I debate and argue with people online. Shoot, I’ve even met some pretty fit girls on there in real life,” says Chris Roget of Birchmount C.I. “Besides the girls, I like the forums, because everyone is in a close age range and I can relate to them.”
TDW forums give teenagers the chance to speak their mind about a wide variety of topics like music, arts, school, fashion, or even the most ridiculous
ideas only a high school student could think of.“I once saw a thread from this guy in Brampton,” says Kaye Dante Melendez, a Grade 10 of J.C.I. “It was about how Ana Nicole Smith’s baby would look if she were impregnated by a horse.”
Although the appearance of a half-animal, half-washed-up-blonde-celebrity baby seems intriguing, there’s obviously a more reasonable explanation as to why students of J.C.I. are hooked on TDW.
When asked how they found out about TDW, Myspace, HI5, or ZUUP, 4 out of 5 J.C.I. students surveyed, replied they “found out through a friend and have been continuing usage ever since.”
There seems to be no exact reason why J.C.I. students are so enticed by TDW or any of its related forum sites. It’s become the new hangout, the new after-school extra-curricular activity, and the new Lava Life for teenagers. It has turned into the cyberspace club for students and young adults alike.
Many J.C.I. students have lost too much time to these hoochie-showcasing, good-for-nothing websites. Unfortunately, there is no intervention for the victims of TDW. When you become a member, there’s no way out.
So when someone offers you the wire, it’s best if you just say no.