Blog #6

 EOTO: Instant Messaging(IM)

By: Meagan Flynn

April 15, 2021

From 3500 B.C. to present time, technology has immersed and grown into something huge for society. From inventing the petroglyph to electric auto transit cars, technology advancement never stops. Each day there is some new technology and communication being introduced to the world. 

For my EOTO project, I presented Instant Messaging, also known as IM. I believe Instant Messaging was one of the beginning inventions for the technology age. It is different from texting; however, it has the same concept, but on an actual computer. 

Instant Messaging was introduced in the 1990's and began when AOL started AIM. AIM "allowed users to send messages to each other, and included user profiles, away messages and icons for more engagement." However, IM dates back to the mid-1960's when the precursor of a formal IM named the Compatible Time-Sharing System (CTSS), that originated at MIT's Computation Center. They used remote dial-up terminals to send messages back and forth to share files with one another. In 1971, IM was invented as a chat function on a government computer network for emergencies. After 1998, other chats were eventually invented like: Jabber, ichat, Skype, myspace, Facebook, iMessage, and google talk. 

The definition of IM is "form of text-based communication in which two persons participate in a single conversation over their computers or mobile devices within an internet-based chatroom." How IM works is both users log in and create profiles. When both users are online, they can "chat" each other and communicate. However, the users can only communicate if both are online. When online, the chatroom notifies others when their presence is online. 

Some fun facts of IM is short hand language and acronyms were created. For example, LOL, OMG, NP, ROFL were popular. Also, it was much less secure as anyone can message you and security on computers of protecting chats were less back in the early times of IM. Some pros of IM were that people could chat in real time with friends and they didn't have to talk on the phone, so you can get other things done at once. Some cons of IM were sometimes people needed to pay premium services to avoid pop-up windows and unless the IM client/user is set- up carefully, as said before, anyone can message you.

As I was researching IM, I believe it is one of the more interesting and innovative parts of the chart/diagram in Cottrell. Just think, what would we do without Instant Messaging? Everyday, we commit to some sort of chatting with friends, teachers, doctors, and more. It's hard to get around it. Without IM, we would have to call everyone which can take time. Messaging and using short hand language and acronyms can save us time with typing and it is known as a universal language these days. I use instant messaging everyday with texting, emailing, and chats for online shopping. Sometimes, I do not know what to do without it. However, I feel the younger generations are using it so much that they have social anxiety when calling someone simple as a doctors office or restaurant. We sit behind the screen and let the computer do everything for us. I am glad that I was born in 1999 where I grew up calling people on the phone until the first iPhone was revealed. That is when instant messaging really took over. It is best to not use instant messaging all the time and call friends and family. IM grows everyday with emoji and bitmojis, but we should grow from chatrooms and step out from behind the screen.