I started using the Internet during my sophomore year at the university. All of a sudden my dad started talking about how the Internet was going to be all the rage in the coming century, and how anyone in today's world has to be able to use the Internet. He started "computerizing" the whole family. He taught us how to use computers, how to get onto the Internet, and how to take part in Internet chat rooms. Now everyone in our family has their own computer-even my four-year-old nephew!

I became an Internet addict in the second semester of my sophomore year. I was on line pretty much all day long during the winter break that year. I surfed all over the Web to see how people designed their websites. You know, not many people were using integrated web page design software back then. I would go to people's websites and click the right-hand mouse button to see how their programs were written, then I would compare the different programs against each other. I had some Internet friends who spent all day just sending programs back and forth, discussing them. Everybody on the Internet was really nice. There were some electronic engineers who were always happy to help people solve computer problems. I can pretty much say that I never learned how to use computers until I got onto the Internet.

During my junior year we started thinking about me making a career for myself in something involving Web content design because I was already totally consumed by it. You wanna know how bad I'm addicted? When I moved into a new place, I first set up my computer and got on line so I could chat with people while I got set up in my new quarters. When I wasn't in class, I was almost always on line. Half of my friends are people I met on line-even my ex-boyfriend. I'm even the administrator of an Internet chat room.

My father is very self-contradictory. He stresses the importance of computers, but he's against me making a career in the field. During my senior year I had to prepare for the entrance exam for graduate school and aim in that direction, but I couldn't help going on line every single day. I would go to a chat room called The Dreamer to find out what the people running the chat room were like. I chatted with the employees there all the time and eventually became friends with them. The Dreamer was brand new back then and needed more hands, so they asked me if I'd like a part-time job there. I told them I had to prepare for the grad school entrance exam, but one of them said, "Oh, come on! Even when you're at home you're on line everyday anyhow. You might as well come here and use the T1 line at our office. It's real fast, and you can surf the Web and take part in drawings for prizes." That's how they tempted me into the job.

It was just a part-time job at first. I helped them prepare publicity. Now that I've graduated I've started working full-time in planning Web content. I make more money than any of my classmates. A lot of young people these days are starting up Internet companies and selling them off for big money.

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Liang Kang-yi, age 24.

Graduated from university with a degree in political science.

Current employment involves planning and design of Web content.