Instant Messenger is an activity that humans of all ages, nationalities, religions, political preferences (I could go on…) can participate in. Instant messaging programs began to appear in the 1970’s on certain operating systems, but have since been enormously expanded. Users can chat on AOL Instant Messenger, ichat, Adium, Trillium, MSN, and Yahoo, just to name a few. I enjoy using ichat because it allows me to chat with multiple friends from home who I don’t always have time to call. I am also able to communicate with friends and classmates about assignments and activities going on at Cornell. My mom also created a screen name last year soon after I left for college so that she could keep tabs on me and talk to me more frequently.
The majority of those who use IM use it for the reasons I’ve listed above. It is a simple, free, convenient way to talk to your friends. The trouble may start, however, when a person is at their computer for hours a day, only talking online. First of all, people who spend this much time online are clearly not going to be able to complete their homework or other work that needs to be done. The locus is on the internet as well as the user, as IM would not be possible without the internet, yet not all users abuse the program. Operant conditioning plays a role because as people continue to frequent certain chat rooms, they will want to see if other users are there. If they know that a certain person that they like talking to usually comes on around 8, they will probably disregard other things to go and talk to that person. Along with operant conditioning, comes maintenance of presence. If you are always present in a certain chat room then people will grow to respect your opinion more than a new person’s.
IM fits within the theory of PIU as well as Caplan’s theory. Many people who are engaging in abusive IM chat are probably doing so because they feel more comfortable on the Internet. For example, a boy that went to my high school and was in a couple of my classes would instant message me every time I came online. The conversation would usually end after “Good, how are you?” but he still acknowledged me online. In school, however, he would not say anything. I believe that he was more socially comfortable talking to me online, because that is where he seemed to spend so much time.
IM is unique in that it can be a synchronous form of communication with either your best friend, or a complete stranger. IM is generally a great thing, but it is important to remember that as silly as it sounds, people can get addicted.
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