I.M.ing

I love technology, wireless internet, texing, facebook... the whole business. whenever a new "thing" comes out I aways say "why would I need that!" And then 6 months later I am obsessed. I used
to think wireless internet was useless, facebook was insane and cell phones where unnecessary. My latest interest is texting. I never thought I would be a texter, and it is really growing on me. In fact, I hope congress passest the law soon to make it illegal to text while driving cause I need a little insentive to put the phone away when I am bored at a red light...

I know a lot of people get all worked up about technology taking away that personal touch. We email, text, facebook instead of doing things in person, talking face to face, having a real conversation. Well I just don't buy that argument. I feel it allows me to stay better connected, to more people. Email allows me to be more efficient in my work and then I have a "trail" of what happened so I can suppliment my memory : ) I still have face to face and personal relationships with all the people in my life, but facebook, email, texting, that is just a bonus!

So on the the real point of my blog. Instant Messaging. With my love of technology and immediate communication you would think IMing would be up there on my list of favorites. It is not. I despise it! I live in fear of that little screen popping up on my computer. I feel like I am being stalked and at anytime someone can just appear in my life and take over what I am doing. I finally realized I can turn it off on face book. I am not on my gmail enough for people to pop in, and at work I only have it on when necessary (aka, when I want to IM someone else :)

Beside the feeling I am being stalked there are a few other IM issues I have. It really all comes down to etiquette. How do you end a conversation? How long is too long to wait to reply? I could be working on something important, and IM pops up and I feel I have to abandon all projects and focus on this little box. What happens when you are both typing at the same time and each taking the conversation in different directions, do you keep going on with both conversations or abandon one and how do you decide which one? How long can you wait before you answer an IM?

There are benefits to this and I do use it occasionally and find it very helpful. I have learned a lot from one of my colleagues Jaclyn who always starts the IM with "Hi, Sarah, are you available right now?" That just feels so less invasive. I can say give me 5 minutes, or "can I call you?" or whatever... She is always concise and doesn't drag things out either...

I have also had some very fun IM's, just good old banter back and forth, which I really love and if I can do this on the computer, then I am very happy. A few times I am on the phone and need something, so I can quick IM my colleague and say, can you come here to help?

So I guess what I am saying is, It is a great tool, that I use and find helpful, in the right setting, but my first reaction the that little screen popping up is always anxiety and if someone ever rights a book on IM etiquette, I will be the first in line.