One woman’s descent into the addictive world of internet fandom
“How are the boards,” my roommate asks jokingly as she comes into our apartment. She’s referring to a television show’s message boards that I have been unable to pull myself from. I haven’t really done anything productive all day. I went to work, came home and hit the boards. It’s what I did yesterday, the day before, and almost every day this summer. I ignore her sarcasm as I continue to participate in my online discussion.
My summer was uneventful to say the least. I stayed in the District working for the housing department, spending the majority of the summer sitting in the Village C West Resident Hall Office. Campus during the summer is nearly empty, which was good for us drones because it meant we really didn’t have any work to do. I squandered my shifts playing music and browsing random sites on the Internet.
This is how my descent into the world of fandom began. I blame my employers for giving me the time and motivation out of sheer boredom to embark on the journey of a fan girl.
It started innocently enough; I was bored working at the Resident Hall Office. Hoping to pass the time, I read through a few forums pertaining to a popular television show that I liked. I assured myself that as long as I only read the message boards I wasn’t one of those ridiculous groupies. I told myself that I wouldn’t post, read fan fiction, and —god forbid —write the stuff.
A week later, I was doing all the things I promised myself I wouldn’t do. The temptation was more that I could handle—I simply had to counter XOXO897’s analysis of the season finale and write my version of what happened after the cliffhanger that had the entire fandom community of the edge of our seats.
Once I registered on one message board it was a downward spiral into the world of fandom. I had become a full fledge participant of the movement, and there was no way around it. A fandom is a community that follows a television show, movie, or book and utilizes message boards, Livejournal, and fan fiction to stir up discussion and gossip within the fandom community. I participated in all three aspects, automatically making me a fan girl.
As a fan girl, I flocked to others of my kind, those who would “squee” along with me when the network released new promotional photos or when our favorite writers updated their latest work of fan fiction. A “squee” is the noise made by an over excited fan girl and a great ability I have honed over my summer. I spend much of my time talking to these girls on instant messenger. Inevitably the discussion veered from the show and into our real-lives. While often these conversations were held on the superficial level, it was nice to have another friend of sorts who asks you how your day went.
Eventually I told my roommate about my new fixation.
After laughing at me for a few minutes, she asked for the link to one of my stories. In the wake of her mild reaction, I no longer felt the need to hide the fact that I had become a fan girl.
We all waste our summers in one way or the other. Some people spend their summer playing video games; others spend it lying by a pool or secretly gossiping on GChat at work. All wasted time is the same, but when the suntans fade and high scores are reset , I can go back and see exactly how I spent my summer. My dozen works of fan fiction that I can go back and reread, as well as the hundreds of comments live on in the annal’s of cyber-space, standing as a testament to my passion and my own small contribution to society.
