Instant Messaging: Great communication tool, or senseless waster of time?

[SteveDallas]

In the past month, I've happened to come across several discussions about IM, from a PC Magazine article by John Dvorak, to a mailing list for IT directors in higher education, to a lecture on the impact of social software. And there's been a very clear division between those who feel that IM is at best frivolous and at worst an intellect-sapping waste of time; and those who feel it's a fabulous way to keep in touch with your current acquaintances and make new ones.

I personally am somewhat ambivalent toward it. I have no deep-seated philosophical objections to it, I just don't use it a lot. Though I admit this is possibly because I don't have many folks on my buddy list.

So, I'm curious, where other Dwellars fall down on the spectrum. Based on talking with people at some of the (live) meetings I've been at, I have a theory that it's somewhat age-related.

[Clodfobble]

I ever don't use it to meet anyone new, just to keep in touch with people hundreds or thousands of miles away. And for that it's GREAT--I have several friends from college who have spread all across the world. I can't afford international long-distance bills, plus it allows for an occasional short conversation, whereas a phone call would probably be put off because it would be too much of a time investment.

But many of my coworkers use it to converse with other employees who are right down the hall, claiming it increases productivity... this is a bunch of crap as far as I'm concerned, I don't buy for one instant.

[ladysycamore]

I use it on occasion. I don't use it to meet new folk, because my buddy list is reserved for only people that I know. Every now and again, I'll fire it up to see who's online.

[elSicomoro]

I like using IMs, but don't see many of my friends online anymore.

[lumberjim]

i am sitting about 6 feet above jinx right now. She's downstairs, I'm upstairs. I could yell " get me a beer, bitch!" but that might wake up the kids. Instead, I send her a cute little IM, complimenting her beer getting ability, and voila!.... I still go get my beer myself anyway.....but at least I didn't wake the kids up.

I like talking with IM sometimes. sometimes I find that I just fade out ......it's not like the phone where you have the awkward silence.....if there's no quesion floated, or comment expecting a reply, you can just go back to your work.......It's very good in that respect. What I don't like is when you have a lot to say, or questions to ask. I invariably end up in a dual threaded conversation because i'm talking to fast. The phone is much better for that kind of thing. I don;t see how it can be "a waste of time" though. people chit chat. this just increases their range, and probably saves lots of long distance charges for a lot of people, too.

[Troubleshooter]

I use it constantly, between talking to Lady Sidhe, my friends in Texass, New Orleans, and elsewhere. I don't feel compelled to talk to them all of the time, but the convenience is excellent.

[hot_pastrami]

IM doesn't need to be pigeonholed in either category, it all depends on how you use it. The Telephone itself can be a senseless waster of time in the wrong hands, but that doesn't take away from it's usefulness in the right hands. IM is the same way. I use it frequently, and it helps to keep long-distance friendships alive which might otherwise die, as well as giving me quick contact with friends and family when needed. And, as mentioned above, it's a lot cheaper than a long-distance phone call.

Any communication medium can be a senseless waste of time in the wong hands, including message boards *cough*Lumberjim*cough*, but that shouldn't reflect badly on message boards in general. IM has it's benefits and drawbacks, so it's not for everybody, but when it does work, it can work very well.

[glatt]

My parents have been in Europe for the past year without a phone. We both have web cams. We IM with the cameras turned on. It is fucking awesome! We IM only on weekends, because of the time zone difference. (I have a firewall at work that blocks IMs. So I can only IM from home.)

The only thing that sucks about IM is that my mother in law keeps trying to butt in when I am talking to my parents in Europe. I feel bad ignoring her, but do what I have to do. She has a phone though, and could just pick it up and call. Phone calls inside the US are very cheap.

IM is great. Especially with the camera.

[wolf]

IM is neither good nor bad, but using makes it so ...

Depends on how you use it.

It is absolutely an amazingly inefficient time waster (or should that be efficient time waster, as it does it so well).

However, since it's free and easy to use, it also has a lot of advantages over more traditional means of communication ... if either your participants type really fast, or you have a setup with either audio or webcam (for the most part the audio is more useful for transmitting information, unless the information you wish to transmit involves pudenda).

More often than not, like most things on the internet, it's an interesting curiosity, which occasional real usefulness.

[Radar]

I really only use IM anymore to chat with my wife in Vietnam. We message each other and can see each other with the webcam every weekend. I'm very happy for it. I'd probably use IM more if it weren't blocked by the firewall at work.

[cowhead]

Instant messengers.. I dunno I'm two minds about them, I love having them for keeping in touch with friends who have headed for the coasts, and I have 'met' some people online with them (although the paranoid in me keeps popping out and saying "is that really them? or is it some construct developed by a deranged mind?.. but then again that's me ) ) but then again.. i've gotten 'spam' on icq (yahoo messenger is my prefered weapon of choice) so for the most part I'd have to go with 'they are a good thing'

[mrnoodle]

I use it to say hi to my brother every day or two, occasionally to chat with people I play online games with or are otherwise associated with through the internet. Other than that, I don't use it for anything. I find it distracting when I get online solely to send an email for work purposes and 5 people with nothing to do start IM'ing me.

[Beestie]

Personally, its not for me. I installed it years ago (the one that worked with netscape) on my PC and never used it. I had buddies that were on it but its just not my medium.

I was a consultant at AOL back in '97 and obviously everyone there used it. While I didn't care for it at home, I loved it at work. It saved me so much time and it completely eliminated "phone tag." IM the question and simply wait for the answer. Conversely, IM gave me the option of responding immediately or waiting till I was ready to deal with whatever the issue or question was about. I liked that I could use it as a "chat room" for a quick 'back and forth' with someone or as an alternative to the telephone. I much preferred getting IMd than getting called if someone was asking me for something. It was like sticky notes between colleagues - I wish I had it where I work now.

But personally, I like email and the phone better for keeping in touch with my buddies.

I still think IM was a stroke of genius on somebody's part.

[jaguar]

Fanatastic. I've actually had my ICQ number longer than any other piece of contact information in my life. I work with people in 4 different time zones and most of the people I talk to are overseas so combined with VOIP (Skype, iVist) it not only saves me a goddamn fortune in international phone calls but helps me keep in contact with people. I also have an IM client on my P800 that I use some times as well, a kind of glorified SMS system, very cool.

[SteveDallas]

This was vaguely amusing. (Though of course my score was pathetically low.)

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