OC HIGH: STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS : At the Keyboard, Pleased to Meet You

I had just moved to a new city where I didn’t know anyone when I was first introduced to the information highway. My father had a Prodigy membership and created my own log-on ID, so I could use Prodigy whenever I wanted.

It was a great introduction.

Cruising the pen-pal bulletin board, along with the many other features designed for teens, I made many friends around the country--from an hour away in Pomona to Richmond, Va.

Prodigy is one of the easiest on-line services to use, with menu screens to scroll through using your mouse. It offers access to hundreds of bulletin boards on a variety of subjects, from ballet to video games. I spent most of my time browsing through the boards when I first started, finding people who could help me with the computer game I was trying to finish or just linking with someone who liked to watch old “Twilight Zone” episodes.

An array of on-line games offers everything from adventure role-playing to brainteasers and trivia. One of the best Prodigy features is the weekly trivia contest, GUTS. Over a seven-week period, every Prodigy member has the chance once a week to answer a new set of trivia questions. The person who answers the most questions correctly at the end of the seven weeks wins a prize.

One of the biggest drawbacks on Prodigy was not having the ability to have a quick conversation back and forth with someone on-line. The only way to converse was to write a short e-mail message, which took several minutes to send, and then wait at least another five minutes for the reply. Since Prodigy only offers 30 free messages a month, my bill skyrocketed.

So when I received a complimentary disk last year containing all the software necessary to run America On-Line, I thought I would see what it had to offer.

When I did, I was in heaven.

The most exciting features on AOL, for me, are the chat rooms, places where you can have interactive conversation with up to 22 other people. Where it takes just a second for your message to be put on the screen for all to see. I spent my 10 free introductory hours in two nights talking in the chat rooms, exchanging information about Monty Python flicks and writing poetry, to name two topics.

Besides having the best conversation rooms, AOL offers partial Internet access, with e-mail and Worldwide Web downloading. I can write to all of my friends who recently went away to college and get the latest information on Sarah McLachlan, my favorite singer.