Online, though, they apologize for their sins and engage in eloquent discourse worthy of Cyrano de Bergerac. Offline, they fall victim to their insecurities. Online, they share their deepest feelings without compunction. It's true that some online relationships do benefit from the openness that comes from anonymity and the thoughtfulness of the written word. But others are built on deception, and most are constrained by the fact that people don't transform into kinder, more understanding versions of themselves when they log onto the Net.
People online are just people, online.
The people are prettier, the explosions louder and the boring stuff disappears altogether. But the movie does show how Hollywood's impression of the Internet has changed. Those movies evinced Hollywood's instinctive fear of the Net, a medium that seemed to threaten the movie industry's bottom line if only by giving people something else to do with their time. I'm surprised there wasn't someone at the door handing out AOL start disks. I suppose it's probably a reflection of societal attitudes, which have swung around to the Internet's favor as more people have found their way online.