My name is Ashley Downs. I am a junior majoring in Development Sociology and minoring in Communication. I am fascinated with society and interested in ways to make it truly better. I think self-expression is the key to making things better. Communication is a powerful thing. I find an outlet with writing and an escape with reading that I haven't found with anything else. I hope to one day enter the print media field. I think it would be incredibly exciting to write for the Boston Globe. I consider myself a free spirit, constantly moving from one place to the next, with new ideas formulating at each place. I like to explore all of the possibilities out there. I am an avid listener of Bob Dylan because he seems to sing the tunes of my soul.
The internet phenomenon that most intrigues me is the increasingly evident addiction to AOL Instant Messenger. I have countless friends who remain online for days, even weeks, at a time. Checking away messages has become a favorite pastime. I understand the convenience of speaking to multiple friends at the same time. I understand the desire to speak to someone online rather than on the phone. I understand the need to take a little break from paper-writing to complain to a fellow student. I don't understand, however, why the use of AIM has become as routine in the daily schedule as brushing teeth and eating dinner.
I can't recall if AIM was around in 1999 when this book was published. Similar to a chatroom, I believe the environment of this phenomenon is a sychronous one: Individuals are speaking to each other at the same time. The only difference between a chatroom and an AIM conversation is that the communication taking place in a chatroom is between many more individuals. Jody can speak to Lauren but Suzy can see the message. On AIM it is different. Jody can "whisper" to Lauren and Suzy cannot see the message.
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As an AIM addict, I too am interested in this phenomenon. I'm not really sure what makes me routinely check away messages even when I don't care about them or when I already know what they say, but my reason for being online (frequently away, but still logged in) most of the time is simple: I don't want to miss anything. I like that people have the ability to leave me messages more or less whenever they feel like it, that I in turn can respond to whenever I want.
AIM IS a synchronous chatting tool, I definitely agree with you there; but I've had more than my fair share of asynchronous conversations with it. So I guess that's why I, at least, stay logged on most of the time.
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