keryx: (dorks)
[personal profile] keryx
I just re-started using IM a few weeks ago, since a few critical things had to happen before I could really get behind instant messaging, namely: having my own laptop connected to a speedy wireless network.

Now that I have that, and the novelty is starting to wear off, I can say this without a doubt: instant messaging is stupid. Yes, I realize it's an efficient means of getting quickly in touch with someone who can be counted on to be online, and that it allows you to have simultaneous conversations with 10 people if you want, while you download music. It's faster than email. It's easier than text messages on your phone (which are also stupid, but no one asked me to rant about that).

But. It's stupid. As a medium, it limits the types of conversation you can have, a fact that few people who use it seem to realize. It's great for quick q&a kinds of things, for planning a get-together, for entertaining quips, and nothing else.

Just to tie this in some way to what [livejournal.com profile] petite_tadpole asked for, here are my thoughts on people who don't follow implicit IM etiquette, for instance leaving a conversation mid-flight: so what? What function does telling someone that you're about to stop sending them entertaining quips really serve, other than to verify that you've not just been shot?

None. None at all. Thus, IM is stupid.

This rant has been intentionally inflammatory and may or may not reflect my actual opinions. Just assume it does, and if I've said something you dislike, that I'm talking about you.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-13 12:39 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snidegrrl.livejournal.com
I've been instant messaging in one form or another since 1997... good ol' ICQ. It sure is good for roleplaying.

The tool itself is not stupid, really, it's the way it gets used sometimes. It helped me through alot of tough overnights!

I am loathe to consider what our lives would have been like had such a thing existed when we were 13. Terrifying.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-13 12:40 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snidegrrl.livejournal.com
In re: stopping an IM conversation without warning:

It completely depends on what the last thing said was. If the last thing said was:

snidegrrl: omg, this is the best song

then wandering away is completely acceptable. If the last thing said was:

snidegrrl: so i've been thinking about us lately. :(

then wandering away is a FUCKING FEDERAL CRIME or should be.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-13 12:44 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keryx.livejournal.com
snidegrrl: so i've been thinking about us lately. :(

I think making that sort of remark ON EFFING IM is the thing that should be a crime, personally. One should have the decency to discuss issues over a more interactive medium.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-13 12:49 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snidegrrl.livejournal.com
my experience from having this kind of conversation on IM is from back when i was in relationships that were CONSTANTLY in trauma. ahhh dramatic youth. also there were a few times when i was trapped on overnights.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-13 12:42 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keryx.livejournal.com
People have improved in their use of the medium since ICQ. I seriously never had one conversation that was in any way necessary or even interesting in the years I used ICQ; it's better now. At least people use real words.

I think there's also an issue in that I was using chat rooms in 93-94ish, and there *was* meaningful, useful interchange over that medium. I wouldn't have expected the messenger thing to be that different, and yet it is.

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-13 12:52 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] snidegrrl.livejournal.com
i had lots of good conversations over icq; many of which i even saved to text files. but then lost the (hahaha floppy) discs i saved them on.

i honestly don't think the messenger thing is that different; i just think maybe the ratio is different? now that it's so easy for god and everyone to use, and now that you don't pay like, by the minute/hour for dialup or still have the feeling somehow that using the internet is some kind of ordeal, and is not slow anymore, people are more likely to use it for whatever, including im. i mean, in 1993-4 there was far fewer crappy useless webpages, too i bet. i maintain that it is not a function of the tool. :)

(no subject)

Date: 2005-09-13 01:01 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] keryx.livejournal.com
yeah, but the crappy webpages are about access to the internet (which is yay, easier), while the IM thing is still an interaction with the limited, mostly quite intelligent, circle i associate with.

i think there's something changing in the medium, i really do. i don't know what.

September 2020

S M T W T F S
  12345
678 9101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930   

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags