As college students, I feel we are familiar with many forms of problematic internet usage (PIU). If it is to be defined as internet usage that negatively affects our academic, professional, and social lives, then I’m sure we can find an instance where surfing the web has caused us to turn a paper in late or say something online to a friend that we later regretted. The online activity that I think is most abused (except for possibly Facebook) is instant messaging.
As discussed in class, instant messaging lends itself to problematic usage due to its inherent nature. The ability to carry on dozens of conversation at once if you desire is not necessarily good. It is almost impossible to maintain that many simultaneous active conversations. This could result in people thinking you are ignoring them if you are really just switching between many conversations or simultaneously surfing the web. The bigger concern; however, is that time spent on AIM will take away from time you should be spending in a face to face social situations or working on academic assignments. It has been my experience that the most common way of using AIM to procrastinate work involves talking to others who have the same homework assignment and using others procrastination as an acceptable excuse for putting off one’s own work.
Wallace’s four factors of PIU seem to apply here. For locus of control, AIM’s many features allow the user to control almost every part of their experience, as well as put up an away message, convincing them that they can truly step away at any time. For operant conditioning, AIM rewards its users with a new experience every time they sign on, as different users are online at different times, meaning you never know when you may be missing a great conversation with an old friend or that girl from class. This keeps you not only signing back on, but also leaving your profile up when you are away, in order to maintain your virtual presence. Finally, as with any online activity, new users are quickly assimilated into the language of instant messaging. They learn shorthand as well as the etiquette of properly using an away message so as to fit in with everyone else online.
Instant messaging presents an interesting question for Caplan’s model. It would appear that for some AIM users, instant messaging is indeed their preferred method of interaction and may lead to excessive and compulsive internet usage. Unlike Caplan’s model; however, most AIM users use instant messaging as a communicative extension of their already existing face to face social network. In this case I think many users may compulsively use instant messaging in a problematic manner, but it may not be due to their preference for it as less threatening and more efficacious medium or negative perceptions about their social competence. While this may be the case for some people, it does not seem to be the trend.
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4 comments:
Michael,
Out of all the topic that people wrote about, I agree with you that instant messaging ranks as one of the most common time sinks for college students. It bothers me to no end when I am talking to someone on the phone, but their responses are delayed because they are simultaneously carrying on five IM conversations. While AIM can sometimes be productive if you have to do a group assignment, most students use it as a temporary distraction or for a five minute break which rapidly transforms into a wasted half hour of meaningless conversations.
As far as complying with Caplan’s model, I agree that AIM usage does not exactly fit the mold. People with high social competence can use AIM just as frequently and unproductively as people with psychosocial problems. Not all AIM users prefer CMC conversations to FTF conversations, but rather AIM is a matter of convenience and a tool for procrastination. Still, Caplan’s model is applicable for some AIM users whose preference for this mediated interaction leads to excessive-compulsive internet use. It is difficult to generalize Caplan’s model to the AIM program since people use it for different purposes. Overall, great post!
Hey,
I thought you chose a very interesting topic in AIM as most people from 4th grade up use it. I would classify IM as the perfect waste of time, and I like your point of using other peoples procrastination as grounds for your own. I feel as if AIM doesn't really fit into the theories discussed in class perfectly because of its distributed functionality. Someone with increased psychosocial problems would probably use AIM as much as anyone else. Also the majority of people on ones buddy list are people met in ftf first. As you mentioned people can heavily mutli task on AIM to so its not a direct consumption of time. One can do work and talk to friends to some degree. I feel that the points you analyzed from Wallace fit your point excellently in defining AIM as a PIU. Great Post!
I can definitely sympathize with this PIU. Being of the AIM generation, I find it's the fastest, most efficient, and easiest way to keep in touch with friends. Especially being away from home at college, it's a great tool to talk to friends off campus and make new ones on campus. It's also useful in the same way as text messaging in that you can choose to have lengthy conversations or keep the message short and concise. It's instant and easy! While I'm addicted to AIM, I still get annoyed with friends who'd rather talk on AIM than in person or on the phone. If I have the option, I'd pick those more rich mediums of communiation. AIM does cause social problems because our generation is losing social ftf coversational skills. I definitely agree with your analysis. I guess we should all use AIM with more caution! Good post!
Michael,
I agree with you that instant messaging is probably the most common time wasters for college students. I mean I can't count the number of times I procrastinated an assignment because I was talking online. Also in terms of talking to people ftf, or on the phone, we all prefer the internet on a daily basis, because you can have 5 conversations at the same time. I guess in this day and age we would just call that more efficient. At the end, we know that the conversations are mostly meaningless, which makes you think of the productivity of time via instant messaging and that of time on the phone or face to face.
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