A SNERT with a Tissue

Is a SNERT with a tissue still as snot-nosed? I've never heard that term in my life and I've been using the internet since the days of BBS's and direct connects on 14.4 baud rate modems. I like Kurt Vonnegut though and I will only accept being called a SNERT if it is in fact a term coined by him. Back when I upgraded to a 28.8 modem, I remember imagining how lightening quick my internet would now be. After the shrill squeals and rough static of the connection being made, I would be seamlessly connected to a world of at least a couple hundred other lame dudes who knew how to use their 486s well enough to trade copies of the Anarchist's Cookbook and play Doom with each other while the rest of the world played in something called sunlight. The internet and use of computers only a little over ten years ago was considered a waste of time. However, slowly but surely, scenarios I read in SF books became a reality. Now computers dominate most people's time, and those who are not up to speed are cast aside into a pile of old Commodores and dial-up modems. So now that everyone has logged on and use colons and parentheses to express their emotions, we can have the Psychology of Cyberspace. The idea that on a mass scale people are exploring their identities, and creating new ones online is incredible. The impact this is going to have on our minds and society will be so great that looking back on the days when interacting with other didn't require typing skills will be like trying to understand Mayan culture. On one hand I think this will be a good thing, in that people may end up being happier because of their ability to change themselves and be whatever they want. The sad thing, as I see it, is that people already have that ability but are just completely unaware or untrained in how to use it. Computers facilitating introspection and discovery is really neat, but the dependence them and the need for them as the medium could be dangerous. People think identity theft is scary, what will it be like when your identity is really online and someone messes with it? What if when we're not at a keyboard, the bodies we use really do become nothing more than just a vessel that brings us to the fridge for food, and to work for a paycheck? I love the web and what it does for me just as much as the chick checking her Facebook next to me, but how far will it go? It's all ready a light year ahead from where I started and it's only going faster.