Assorted Ravings of the Slightly-Weird

IM, Therefore I M

IM.

It's great for keeping in touch with friends and for looking busy at work when all you're actually doing is bitching with gal pals. (Just be sure to Alt-Tab really quickly when the boss walks by.) It's thanks to IM that I can chat with people overseas and feel like I'm having a real conversation as opposed to email. Plus, there's all these cute emoticons to play with.

But sometimes, IM makes me want to scream out loud in frustration. It's so easy to hide from contacts when you don't feel like chatting with them. You could appear offline or just not bother replying and then blame it on not being at the computer (AFK: Away from Komputer. HAHAHA. Sorry, inside joke.) if your friend starts throwing a hissy fit.

And, not being face to face means that you never really know what the other person's thinking or doing. I was having a serious conversation with a friend the other day and in an attempt to inject some levity into our IM conversation I made a comment that I regretted sending as soon as I hit "Enter". Even though I apologised almost immediately my friend didn't reply to my apology for the next few minutes and I sat there wondering whether he was pissed off or not. With IM, you never really know if the other person's angry at you and therefore not replying or if he's just popped off to the loo.

What really gets me is when I see "XXxxxxx is typing a message" and then it disappears. Because then I know that my friend's just deleted everything he was about to say and whatever comes up next in the message window wasn't his first response. Being able to edit your response is double-edged; you don't put your foot in your mouth that often, but you're also censoring yourself. And knowing me, I'll always wonder what it was that he was about to say.

Still, it's a convenient way to keep in touch which is a blessing in this day and age, what with friends getting married left right and centre and leaving to settle in other countries, and with other friends going back to school or working overseas. If not for IM, I doubt I'd be as up to speed with stuff that's happening around me.

But honestly people, would it kill (some of) you to say "Bye" before logging out?

Posted by scrabbyfoo at March 28, 2007 12:38 PM