![]() This is a fair point, and it’s also worth acknowledging that some people (not me) are just better at managing their messages than others. Instead, as Santamaria points out to me with a chuckle, we see that as a signal that it’s OK to send a message because the person won’t be disturbed. We are all walking live chats.ĭoes anyone pay any mind to the fact that a person appears to have their notifications silenced when we initiate a text message to them? I think not. The dreaded ellipsis-the dot dot dot as someone types a response-has made us captive audiences. Provided we’re in range of cell service or Wi-Fi, we can be reached at literally any time. That clear plastic corded phone that dialed up and signed me on has morphed into the world’s most powerful pocket computer that also happens to make phone calls. Interruption is the default.Ĭontinuing to make the distinction, though, between synchronous and asynchronous messaging only damages my own argument, which is that asynchronous messaging is real-time chat now. “You were going to tell me if you could talk before we started the conversation.” There’s a version of this today-someone might preface their message with “Not urgent, respond when you can,” for example-but for the most part, we just send the text message without consideration, Santamaria says. A digital door creaked open, and millions of us scrambled to our seats to see who had just signed on, who was down to chat.Ĭatapulting even further back into the past for a moment: Old-fashioned phone calls used to, and sometimes still do, start with “Hey, you free?” Santamaria points out. It propelled me into a universe of limitless pixels, endless distractions, and a penchant for bland screen names (my only embellishment was my basketball jersey number, tacked onto my initials). Very online, and unaware at the time that the portal would disappear behind you once you crossed through, that you would never again live a wholly offline life.ĪIM, which launched 25 years ago this month, represented that moment for me. Your parents got the compact disc in the mail, you plugged your clear plastic corded phone into a modem connected to your Gateway 2000, and you were off. You didn’t need to be a computer nerd to ride the AIM train. But AIM was the beginning of something, a gateway to real-time, all-the-time internet communication for the normies. ![]() Talkomatic, Compuserve’s CB Simulator, and Internet Relay Chat (IRC) all preceded it. In the beginning, there was AOL Instant Messenger.
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