It’s Like I am in 7th Grade Again
Instant Messaging (IM) became popular when I was in 6th grade. I tested them all - MSN, Yahoo - but AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was king. Before the age of texting, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, iPhones, AIM was how you communicated and discovered what your friends were doing. If you wanted to talk with friends without actually having to talk with them, you used AIM. And you used it a lot - especially at night when you should have been sleeping. I remember staying up until 2 a.m. having intense, angst-filled IM conversations. In fact, I still have some of those conversations forever immortalized (printed & glued) in my adolescent diary. Oh, those were the days.
Kids in the late ’90s didn’t have the luxury of Facebook stalking. We were old school - we used AIM away messages. Before status updates, away messages were how one expressed oneself and entertained others. To craft the perfect away message, it needed to be informative, yet cryptic - always leaving the people wanting more. I would get so upset if someone did not put respectful thought into their away message - didn’t they know I would be reading it? Imagine what you’d think if someone put as their Facebook status: “going to a restaurant to eat.” Disgraceful, right? My thoughts exactly.
I tried about 7 AIM names - including, but not limited to ArubaGirl03, crackle101 & yippedodaday - but utlimately decided on the one I have now. It’s slightly embarassing when I give it out to co-workers, but at least it’s not something like Hotstuff176 or Blondehussy34.
Although there were no written rules about AIM etiquette, there were a few interactions one tried to avoid. What was the ultimate virtual slap in the face? When someone would sign off in the middle of a heated conversation - or worse, block you. If I ever wanted to see if someone blocked me, I would log on as one of my other identities and sure enough, find the jerk online with a smart ass profile comment about me - like I wouldn’t find out! Of course, I am not talking about anyone in particular……Sam……
Oh, and remember warnings? Wow - that takes me back.
Now, AIM is a technology of the past. I only use it when I am at work to chat with fellow employees. It doesn’t hold that same life-altering status as it once did. I no longer read the instantly typed words as absolute truth. I am not in 7th grade anymore.
However, it is comforting to know a taste of how it used to be is just a diary page away…
