Instant Messaging the Conversation of Tomorrow :: Computers Communication Essays

Instant Messaging the Conversation of Tomorrow I can remember my first day here at Eastern Michigan University. I moved in all of my belongings, including the new computer my parents bought me to start off the new school year. After setting everything up in my room I hooked up the computer and signed on to my AOL Instant Messenger for the first time. I wanted a screen name that would some how reflect my personality and ended up with butterfly3742. The butterfly referring to my free spirit emerging from the cocoon of my parent’s home, and the 3742 was the last four digits of my brand new very own telephone number. As the school year slowly progressed I added tons of new buddies to my â€Å"cool people† list, also friends from high school and home that went away to other universities started signing on so it became the easiest and most economical way to stay in touch. Instead, of being on the phone till all hours of the night, I was typing away at my computer with whoever was online at the time. My parents were ecstatic because I managed to keep my long distance phone bill at the bare minimum. They rewarded my money saving tactics through other means. Basically, the instant messenger became a standard, resourceful, and economical way of keeping in touch through writing with friends from my past and friends in my present. Instant messenger is an easy tool used for written communication that has taken the world by storm. No longer is it cool as a student to use your phone, or other written materials as a form of interaction among friends. Authors are also beginning to see reading from the screen as becoming the norm of our society. As reading texts on screen is becoming a more accepted practice, using the IM is becoming the standard form of written communication for many adolescents across the globe. Writer James Sosnoski also accepts the custom of reading on screen becoming a norm. â€Å"Though I readily acknowledge that many persons do not like to read from their screens at this time, I assume that over a period of time, the practice will become so habitual that it will seem â€Å"natural†- just as it now seems customary to use a computer rather than a typewriter.