If my experience with Instant Messaging at home is any indicator, I'd just as soon turn it off. Let us reiterate the Golden Rule of IM once more: if you have something to say, feel free to say it, because IM is a wonderful way to close the distance. However, if you don't have anything real to say, then inane and repetitive messages - think four dozen variations on "Hey, how are you doing?" - do little to advance the cause of humankind.
Said he as he once again put MSN Messenger into Appear Offline mode so he could actually get a bit of work done.
Your turn: What's your take on IM? Good? Bad? Indifferent? Discuss...
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9 comments:
Messenger can be as rude as call waiting. I don't like feeling obligated to talk to people.
It has it's good and bad I think. Personally, I'd rather talk on the phone. But, I've got some close friends in the UK who I do chat with, and that makes it not nearly so expensive.
I agree with Angie, whenever this thing is on, and I see a friend come online, I feel obligated. If I sign off, now that they're online, it's like I'm avoiding them. If I stay on, it will give them an opportunity to start yapping. It's a lose lose situation.
I've gotten into the habit of immediately putting my away message up as soon as I sign on, so I'm not bombarded with 10 different conversations. I can only keep up with about 2, MAYBE 3, at a time.
If I'm busy, I put up my away message. Now, I do have a couple of people on the list who will still message anyway, but I wait until I'm not busy to answer. I love IM for the sheer fact that I work in a very isolated part of this building, and I have little to no human contact most days. In addition, I've actually become much closer to a couple of friends just by chatting on IM. One friend and I even planned a trip to Paris, talking exclusively online. No long distance phone charges to do it. I think the positives outweight the negatives, but I do totally get annoyed by it sometimes.
I think that at work, it can and should be utilized for quick messages such as, "are you ready to go to room 412 for the meeting?" Long monologues do not belong on IM, better expressed with an email so that the person can have their leisure to respond, rather than thinking the person is sitting there waiting for an instant response for something that needs research/more thought.
As far as personal use, I have been annoyed by a person who kept IM'ing me as soon as I logged onto the computer. Oddly enough, I didn't even really know her. Apparently, once I changed my settings so that she would have to "knock", she got offended and stopped communicating with me altogether.
So, good and bad. It is handy to talk with people who are far away. As with anything that deals with people, everyone has their particular idea of what is acceptable use and what is not. Hard to sort that out sometimes.
And technology was supposed to make our lives simpler!
For work purposes, it's not useful. My employer blocks external IMs, and only allows IM within the company. Normally, other communication methods work better (e-mail, phone, alphanumeric pager, and the revolutionary walking down the hall).
For home purposes, it's OK, although I only use it on a limited basis (primarily to catch up with other Yahoo! Hold-Em Poker players).
IM is nice on occasion - chat with a friend, quick question - that sort of thing. But most of the time when I'm on the computer I'm here because I'm busy with something, so most of the time I have mine turned off, to avoid interuptions. ;)
Funny - i was asking the very same question on my blog just about the same time.
Between the two of us, we collected a healthy little set of IM rules of engagement - we shoudl go to D.C. and try for some legal support. $2 fine for starting an inane conversation, $3 for leaving a conversation without saying "bye"...We'd raise enough money to give every child a computer AND teach them how to use IM politely
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