AIM is not my buddy

I’ve all but deleted AIM from my computer, in the off chance I might need it to communicate with someone outside of class who isn’t available by phone. I’ve come to believe it’s evil and overly addictive.

What is a “buddy list” anyway? It’s a list of friends, right? Well, yes and no. I have a handful of people I like to hear from – they’re the people I call or hang out with regardless of AIM. Otherwise, 90 percent of the people on my buddy list are people whom I don’t talk to actively. Yet we find ourselves talking to that dude from our junior-year English class in high school or that girl from Bio 101 for no reason other than to mutually kill our boredom. There is no real connection other than a screen name and a set of cryptic away messages that we try to decipher to see what they are doing.

I also don’t look at it as a very effective means of communication. Yes, it’s instant, but because of the time involved in an AIM conversation, which is meant to be faster paced than letter writing, but not so quick in pace as a phone call, a lot of the subtleties that would accompany letter writing and the emotion that comes with a human voice are lost. In that sense, AIM in inferior. It’s very impersonal.

Even if one looks at it positively – social interaction with a greater number of people than possible to keep in active contact with – does it really matter? All of a sudden you become embroiled in the lives and drama of people you don’t even see on a semiannual basis. It’s even worse if you have an ex or a potential boyfriend or girlfriend lined up. You end up leaving away messages that make you sound more interesting than you actually are to look cool. I know people who put up stuff on the weekends so they don’t look lame. How is that useful to anyone?

In essence, AIM is evil not because of what it does directly, but its indirect effects. By supplanting real, personal, or meaningful contact on a regular basis, it can make one’s social life a little less interesting if AIM takes itself to the point where it’s a major exercise of social activity in one’s day. It’s addicting, and it’s a lot worse than Facebook, simply because it’s based on instantaneous action. Don’t believe me? Get off of it for a minimum of one week. You’ll notice a difference.