Gabriel Utasi illustration

E-BREVIATIONS

How many e-breviations do you know? Take this quiz and find out. See a list of some of the most commonly used e-breviations

IM NUTS AND BOLTS

• IM is a real-time form of communication through a service such as AOL, Yahoo! or MSN.   • Users can create a buddy list of their online friends. When the instant messenger service is running, they can see what buddies are also online. Many services will also have profiles users can look through to find someone with a common interest.   • Messages can be sent back and forth between users through pop-up windows. Often emoticons, which look like variations of a smile, are used to give some feeling to the type.   • A whole set of IM lingo has surfaced. BRB (be right back), LOL (laughing/laughed out loud) and TTYL (talk to you later) are some common ones.   • Users also have the option to put up an away message to let their buddies know what they're up to when they're online but not chatting.   • IMers can also block certain buddies or only receive messages from those on your buddy list.

        I double click the little, yellow AOL man on my computer's taskbar by the clock showing 11:07 PM. Then come those three little steps. Connecting . . . Verifying name and password . . . Starting services. . . .

        I am connected.

        My tall, slim buddy list window pops up. Seven of my 31 buddies — mainly friends from school and home — are online. My former roommate, Elaine, is in Florida. My sister, Hillary, is home in Pennsylvania. Kristin's still at school has an “away” message up, indicating she's online but she's not chatting because she's stressing out over work, crazy neighbors and summer classes. Along with a note of support, I send her a smiley emoticon and my typed trademark giggle: hehehe!

        Jim, Tim and the other Tim are on. Ethan in Canton is the first to IM me. After I return from a trip to the kitchen for a drink, I find his message window flashing: “Erin, what's going on down there?”

        This is just a regular night of talking to my friends.

        Through instant messaging services, keeping up with friends has never been easier. There's no 34-cent stamp to send snail mail. No phone tag with voice mail. Not even the semi-delayed response of e-mail. A few clicks of the mouse and a tap of some keys, gives you the satisfaction of instant communication with friends from down the street, across the country or around the globe.

        Instant messaging is a growing trend among members of the communications generation, particularly teens and young adults. Almost three out of four online teens have used instant messenger, according to a study released by the Pew Internet & American Life Project. And about half of them say the Internet has improved relationships with their friends.

        “What it's really becoming is a communications hub,” says Lisa Pollock, director of messaging products for Yahoo!. “The minute you turn on your computer, you have access to all these friends — no matter where they are.”

        Most of Cristina Williams-Fontanez's friends are just a local phone call away. But that doesn't stop her from IM-ing them.

        “It's really convenient if you're on the Internet looking for stuff and you see someone's online,” says Miss Williams-Fontanez, 16, of Indian Hill. “You can just give them a little "Hey' message instead of calling them or typing them some long e-mail and not knowing when they'll call you back or reply to your e-mail.”

        This increased convenience is expanding the way people can communicate by giving them more control about how to get in touch with others, Ms. Pollock says.

        “If I'm online and I have instant messenger running, I can see whether my friends are online or not,” she says. “That really influences my decision of how to contact them. If they aren't online, maybe I'll e-mail them or call them. But if they are online, I can just message them right away. It's just all so much easier.”

TEEN IM STATS

• 74 percent of online teens have used an instant messaging program while only 44 percent of online adults have tried it.   • 45 percent of online teens who use instant messaging use it every time they go online.   • 48 percent of online teens say the Internet has improved relationships with their friends.   • 67 percent of online teens say the Internet helps only “a little” or “not at all” when trying to make new friends.   • 90 percent of instant messenger users say they use it to keep in touch with friends and relatives who live in a different area.   • 19 percent of online teens say instant messaging is their main method of communicating with friends.   • 37 percent of teens using instant messenger say they have used IM to say something to somebody they would not have said in person.   • 17 percent of instant messenger users have used the tool to ask someone to go out with them, and 13 percent have broken up with someone using an instant message.   Statistics provided by the Pew Internet & American Life Project's report “Teen-age Life Online: The Rise of the Instant-Message Generation and the Internet's Impact on Friendships and Family Relationships.” The study focused on users ages 12 to 17.

        Kyle Arnold has about 160 people on his buddy list: his friends from school at Indian Hill, his friends from his old school in Kentucky, an aunt who lives in Palm Beach, Fla., and others.

        “It would be a lot harder to keep in touch with them all without IM,” says Mr. Arnold, 17. “It takes a lot of time to call people.”

        That is just one of the benefits of instant messaging.

        “It's a great way to keep in touch casually with people you would not be able to keep in touch with usually,” says Amanda Lenhart, one of the principal authors of the Pew Internet & American Life Project's report “Teen-age Life Online: The Rise of the Instant-Message Generation and the Internet's Impact on Friendships and Family Relationships.'' “Plus it's quick, and that speed lets you hold multiple conversations simultaneously with different people. That's something that teen-agers really like.”

        Daniela Williams is one of those teen-agers.

        “It's great,” says Miss Williams, 14 of Indian Hill. “You can talk with five people or however many people at the same time. You just can't do that kind of stuff on the phone.”

        While it's not making the phone obsolete, instant messaging is making its presence known. According to the Pew report, 19 percent of online teens use IMing as their primary means of communication.

        “It's part of the way this generation's living their lives,” Ms. Pollock says. “It's easy for them to use the online medium to communicate.”

        Easier than using the phone for Mr. Arnold.

        “There's just no hassle of having to call them,” he says. “They don't even expect me to call them. They expect me to talk to them online. And I think it brings us closer because we talk more.”

Cheap and easy

        While teen-agers make up a large part of the IM-ing population, they aren't the only ones logging on and trading in stamps and “You've got mail!” messages for a more rapid form of delivery.

        With most colleges and universities offering free Internet connections in their housing units, IMing can be an easy solution for college students looking to keep in touch with friends but not pay an astronomical phone bill.

        Joe Yoo, a senior at Xavier University, is someone who sometimes selects the computer over the phone.

        “If you think about it, it's just really easy and convenient,” says Mr. Yoo, 21 of Madison, Ind. “Yeah, typing requires a little bit more work than dialing a phone, but it's not as commital as a phone conversation. You can just type whatever while you're doing whatever.”

        His buddies consist mainly of old friends, friends at other schools and people at Xavier.

        “It's really my primary means of talking to them unless I call them,” he says. “But I really don't do that a lot.”

        Mr. Yoo, who started using IM when he was a college freshman, says the amount of time he spends using the service varies.

        “It can really be just like two minutes just to see who's online,” he says. “Or sometimes I'll catch an old friend online who I haven't talked to in forever. It just all depends.”

PC courage

        When you ask Miss Williams about instant messaging, the first thing out of her mouth is a relationship story.

        “I got asked out on IM by this guy I went to school with,” she says with a giggle. “I said yes, and we ended up going out for six months. But it was just stupid. I wanted him to ask me to my face so that I could get that warm, fuzzy feeling of being asked out in person, you know?”

        According to the Pew report, 17 percent of instant messenger users between the ages of 12 and 17 have used IM to ask someone out.

        The computer screen can serve as a shield of courage for some.

        “Because you're not looking at the person, you're not scared to say stuff you wouldn't normally say,” Miss Williams says. “I told my boyfriend once, "I think you're hot' on IM. Then he told me, "I think you're pretty cute, too.' So it all worked out. But I couldn't have told him in person.”

        But more than just online courage is created. Different standards for IM communication also arise.

        “The rules of etiquette between instant messaging and phone conversations are a lot different,” says Donn Davis, president of AOL Interactive Properties. “With IM you can take a couple minutes and think about how you're going to reply to somebody. That's not really something you can do on the phone.”

        Mr. Yoo finds one of IM's etiquette differences to be one of its biggest benefits.

        “One of the cool things about IM is that it's not as personal,” he says. “If you ignore somebody in a conversation or don't respond to them for a long time, they'll be like, "What's wrong with you?' But in IM that's completely normal. It's no big deal.”

Signing off

        My 15-year-old sister has finished giving me all the details of her week at camp, complete with typed giggles about falling out of the boat into Lake Erie. My friend Jenn has updated me on the plans for her September wedding. I haven't talked to her on the phone in more than a year.

        But another night of IMing must come to an end. I type my good byes and get a TTYL (talk to you later) from my sister. I click on the X in the upper corner of my buddy list. I am disconnected.

        The little yellow AOL man still glows on my computer's taskbar by the clock now showing 11:42 PM.

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