Instant messaging used to be different back then, with the arrival of facebook many things social changed and not always for the better.
There used to be a whole application dedicated to instant messaging, it was that big ass toolbar by the side called MSN messenger. It was loud and made lots of intrusive noises. BA-DING, you have signed in. BA-DING you have 35 friends online! and youd see all these little names pop up in a list. Of course it wasnt their actual names, it was their display names like "fivepaperbears - currently listening to blahblahblah" and you had to guess who they were by the little hints they dropped. or you could mouse over their names to see their hotmail address, for me it was pretty straightforward. elliotttan@hotmail.com..
Of course, when someone messaged you, it was a massive affair for the application. BEE-DOO-BOO and a giant message board would pop out on your screen usually beginning with "HI!" Usually it was someone you enjoyed talking to, other times you would autoswitch your msn to "appear offline" immediatly after seeing the message. I can still remember how after every message there was a big BEE-DOO-BOO that would shock you out your seat and the little application window at the bottom would blink orange and blue. *blink blink blink* until finally you gave in and read the damn message. It was pretty hard to stand that blinking thingy at the bottom.
Most kids my age would remember those times. It was an age of gameboy colours, pokemon, beyblades, friendster, napster, sony erricssons and nokias instead of iphones everywhere. Relationships seemed to be a little more meaningful back then, people didnt have 800 friends on facebook they never spoke to. It was closer to 30 or people you really knew and saw everyday. Churchies, school buddies, etc~ Youd have msn conversations into 1am in the morning, talking about everything from the weather to what was going on in your life. You know those conversations, you could scroll back on and on and on cos msn saved everything, heck msn even gave you an option to save the entire conversation if you ever wanted to read it later.
Group conversations were always hectic as hell and really fun. BEE-DOO-BEE-DOO-BEE-DOO, it was the most unproductive conversation ever of course, absolutely hilarious till someone nudged the convo *BUZZZZZZZ* whereupon everybody else would nudge as well *BUZZBUZZBUZZBUZZBUZZBUZZ* and it basically degenerated into chaos, which continued to buzz even after you switched windows to look at something else. *blink blink blink blink*
Some of those msn conversations till 4 in the morning were really meaningful, sometimes i wonder where they went.
Enter facebook, at first it was great. The conversation never ended with comments and walls, it just went on and on and anyone could bump in whenever they liked. If that wasnt instant enough, you could always instant message them by the little toolbar below.
Of course this one was much less intrusive, all youd hear was a small click when someone replied. all very bite sized, but somehow, we lost something with that. It wouldnt save your messages, and nobody really paid enough attention to it. You couldnt exactly scroll back like msn could.
People slowly stopped using MSN, you didnt need it anymore, social networking was right at your fingertips! no more intrusive beeping, no more nudging, all gone. At first it was good, but then i started to realise certain things. Fb chat was exactly that, less intrusive. It was very easy to accidentally not see a message and leave someone hanging for a long time. I know ive been on the waiting end frustratedly staring and an empty chat box. With facebook in the background, your attention wasnt even focused on the person you were talking to, there was always something else to look at. It was just.. easier to get lost and lose track of the conversation. Now it was like i didnt even want to talk to the person, not because i didnt like him, but that it was just an inconvenience.
Imagine having a conversation in real life. MSN would be you and a friend sitting down over coffee, somewhere quiet really enjoying each others company. Talking about from burgers to parents, nudging and poking each other. You couldnt just ignore someone straight to the face *blink blink blink*, conversation was just much more focused. conversation is meaningful.
Now imagine trying to talk to a friend whos always on her phone looking at stuff. you know youve been there before, they're glued to it while youve put yours away and are trying to have a conversation. (the feeling when you want to bitchslap the idiots phone out of her hand is called irritation) At first you talk, and they respond a little. But you can tell that their focus just isnt with you. the conversation isnt focused, something is lost there.
Technology doesnt always take a turn for the better, and sometimes i fear social networking is doing exactly the opposite, driving us apart.
