Instant messaging

Eunice & Cordillia
Marymount Convent School
Singapore

In our fast-paced world, sometimes even the rapid responses of email are not fast enough. You have no way of knowing if the person you are sending an email to is online at that particular moment or not. Also, if you are sending multiple emails back and forth with the same person, you normally have to click a few steps to read, reply and send the email. This is how instant messaging has gained its popularity.

Instant messaging is a faster way of communicating with your close ones. It allows you to add people to the so-called 'Buddy List', and as the person is online, you can send messages and even talk to them. You can even see the person's feelings just by installing a webcam. The other person must also have a webcam in order for you to see each other. If you want to talk to each other, you must also install a microphone beside the computer.

Besides seeing and talking to each other, you can also play some games together, such as Tic-Tac-Toe, Bejewelled, Nexic, Minesweeper, and many more. We usually earn points by playing the games and submitting the scores to see who is the best player in every game. However, we usually play them just for the fun of it.

Instant messaging allows you to discuss school work and when you do some PowerPoint presentation or work on a Word document, you can easily send your work by simply typing on your keyboard.

If, by any chance, you are away or out for some errands, you can just leave the instant messenger on and change your status to 'away' or appear 'offline'. If you think that the messages are not suitable for you, you can type in a message that is suitable for you.

If you are bored and sick of people calling you by your name, why not change your name to your nickname? There will even be space for you to type some short and beautiful messages. There will also be a little column below your name to just type a bit more if you feel like it.

Instant messaging lets you invite a person or a friend to help you if your computer gets an error or a problem. It is called remote assistance. Remote assistance basically lets your friend view the errors on your computer and their job is to help you solve the problem or error on your computer.

The emoticons let you express your feelings without using a webcam. By selecting the appropriate emoticons, we can express our feelings easily.

Lastly, we use instant messaging as it is one of the fastest ways to connect to one another, besides using the telephone and watching the television. Other than talking, people also use instant messaging to spread interesting and important news. Sometimes, bored strangers can chat to such a degree that they even end up contemplating marriage. This poses a danger of separation from their own boyfriend or girlfriend.

In this age, technology allows us to connect to others so rapidly and easily. This a what we, as 'global citizens' who live in a 'global city', recognise as an expected way of life.

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