Calgary, September 2023
David considered himself to be a sociable person. He had a lot of friends on Facebook and maintained a lively conversation with them. He liked to talk about his feelings, his opinions but also about the everyday activities like shopping and cooking. David was spending a lot of time on Facebook.
One day, when he logged onto his account, a photo of a beautiful woman appeared, asking if he wants to be her friend. Her name was Julia, and she said that Martin suggested to contact him. David never new anybody called Martin, but it didn’t matter. He definitively wanted to be her friend. But David was looking for more than just friendship, he was longing for love. He wanted to have a woman which he could hold in his arms, to kiss and to go to bed with. Obviously, David couldn’t say all that to Julia right away, so he started carefully.
“Hello Julia, I would be delighted to be your friend. Tell me something about yourself.”
Julia was bit evasive. She said she lives in the same city as David, works for an advertising agency but now she was on a business trip doing presentations for customers. “But I would like to keep in contact with you while I am away and we will meet in person when I return,” she ended the message.
It looked promising. Davis replied, mentioning his work and some of his interesses. She responded cheerfully, and with time they developed a pleasant routine. In the evening David would contact her, they had a chat and slowly the messages became more personal. David was surprised how much Julia knew about him.
“How come you know so much about me?” he asked one evening.
“Martin told me about you.”
This Martin again. David never heard of him and was tempted to ask who he is, but he didn’t want to look stupid, so he didn’t say anything. The messages became more and more personal, David told Julia how much he was looking forward meeting her and how much he would like to hold her in his arms and kiss her. Julia didn’t seem to be offended. On the contrary, she appeared to be pleased with his desire.
“When are you coming back?” asked David more than once.
“As soon as I finish the job here. I shouldn’t take much longer.”
Time goes by slowly when we are waiting for somebody, but finally came the day David was so much looking forward to. Julia suggested a meeting in somewhat expensive restaurant close by to David apartment, and he was little worried how much will it cost him. But Julia was worth it. David came little early, but he didn’t have to wait long. Right on time came a man, went to his table, and said:
“You must be David. You are waiting for Julia.”
“Yes. How do you know?”
“I am Martin. Julia told me about you, and I have seen your photo many times.”
“So where is Julia?”
“Well, the truth is that Julia doesn’t exist. She is just a computer image I have created.”
“She doesn’t exist?” David was on a verge of crying. “You fooled me? Why did you do it? Why did you hurt me so much?”
“I work for an advertising agency, and this was an experiment. I made you to loved her and if she would ask you to buy a specific product or vote for a specific politician, you would do it, just to please her.”
“This is very cruel way of doing advertising.”
“Yes, it is, but there is money to be made in it. Anyway, to soften the blow a little, I told the waiter to charge your dinner to my account,” and Martin left.
David was in no mood for a free diner. He went home, but before he left, he took out the cell phone and deleted his Facebook account.