One subtle social convention that I thought would be interesting to analyze is the practice of posting an Away message when logged into AIM and the expected “buddy” responses to this message. It has become a generally accepted social norm to put up a message letting your buddies know that you aren’t around, and often what exactly you are up to. This way, they don’t expect to talk to you at this time and feel foolish or let down when they don’t receive any response. Also it is understood that you should not disturb someone if their away message says they are busy. In this context, the away message acts as sort of a “sign on the door” as Wallace explains in Chapter 4. Away messages, in keeping with the ‘signs’ Wallace describes, are often a blunt statement about the person’s whereabouts, similar to a “Do not disturb” sign on a hotel door.
AIM users realize and adapt to this norm quite quickly—noticing the message, reading it and then being hesitant to pester someone who appears busy. Additionally, most people adopt the norm of posting a message with information about what they are doing to keep their friends updated/ to avoid unwanted chatter when you should be devoting all your attention to your latest prelim. After someone is inactive on their computer for about 20 minutes or so, AIM usually informs us that they are Idle. This can also help us to gauge our friends’ availability, but it is not as informative as the away message since someone could be active on their computer but not available to chat.
The Leviathan helps enforce this set of norms through the reactions and reproaches of the community of experienced AIM users. If you were to break this social norm and repeatedly message a buddy who’s away message says something like “writing a paper” or “watching a movie” your friend may not respond. If you are persistent they may reply with ‘The Arched Brow’, perhaps in the form of an annoyed request to talk later or may sign off entirely if pestered too much with unimportant chatting. Wallace points out that, “If a group participant fails to read the sign or ignores the rules, group members will escalate their pressure to ensure conformity by simply raising a virtual eyebrow, reminding the offender gently—or not so gently—that certain behavior is not acceptable.” Another more extreme mode of reproach could be to ‘warn’ or ‘block’ a particularly annoying person on AIM. This would probably apply more in situations where the ‘buddies’ do not know each other very well so their bond is weaker and more easily broken by one person’s resistance to social norms.
Comments: Big brother Google
2 comments:
Amber,
This is a great post about away messages. I have been using AIM for years and understand everything that you were describing; however, I think away messages are slightly more complicated than what you described. I noticed people use away messages in very different ways. A great majority use it the exact why you described. Others put up away messages to try to be clever or funny. Most of my friends away messages are along the lines of this: “possibly here, possibly not, theres only one way for you to find out.” Other people use it so they can pick and choose which friends they want to talk to, and some people actually get offended when you do not IM them when they have their away message up, saying that they always have it up for some reason. For the most part though you analysis is correct, I have to admit that I received the raised eyebrow plenty of times when I leave my computer and forget to put up an away message. Nice connection with Wallace’s sign on the door.
Away messages are a great example of netiquette, and you provided a good explanation of it. It's really interesting how these are usually never questioned. When someone has an away message up, no one really thinks twice about the availability of the user. I find that sometimes though, I put that "I'm busy" on IM but I'm really just not in the mood to talk to anyone online. Of course, I could just not sign on at all, but it has become a habit of mine to stay logged on. Either way, I still find that no one bothers me when "I'm away," and I normally would not send a message to someone else whose away message is up.
Another interesting aspect of away messages is that actual words they put up. Although "I am away from my computer" is the default message, people still choose to get creative with their messages. It's very interesting how people can actually make use of an away message to form the impression they give off. Someone can say "busy studying" or put up lyrics to a favorite song. A simple tool such as an away message can also give insight to how those people want to be viewed.
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