AIM provides reading for students

by Robert Kramer, contributing writer

Our generation gets a bad rap for never reading. And ok, maybe the average college student doesn’t read too much for leisure. I’ll concede that the average college student doesn’t read the newspaper as much as he or she should. But the idea that our generation doesn’t read is absurd.  Every day we sit down for hours and read our daily dose of news and literature in the form of AOL Instant Messenger away messages and profiles. 

Ok, you can admit it. You’ve sat there on Instant Messenger, not talking to anyone, reading every away message and profile on your buddy list. Perhaps you’ve even done this on a secret screen name that nobody knows about. And I admit too, that I can be an incessant away message/profile reader.  So what makes these things so appealing? Why do we skim text books, use SparkNotes for great works of literature, toss the newspaper, but take in every single word of a profile? Well, I know it’s not because of the quality of the writing, as almost all profiles/away messages are crap.

Most away messages aren’t even complete sentences. Some I wouldn’t even consider sentence fragments.  Some classic away messages include “class,” “out,” “UREC,” “sleeping,” “brb,” “cell,” “gone,” “here,” “goodnight,” “around” and “hw.”  But most of these classics don’t have the most intuitive meanings. “Brb” away messages usually stay up for hours, if not days. The “cell” away message is supposed to be an open invitation for anyone to call, but subconsciously it means the person who wrote the message wants someone in particular to call him or her.  And “here” is just a total paradox of an away message.

Some away messages include a person’s entire schedule of the day. The messages include when and where the person has classes, where they are eating and with whom, what they are doing afterward, and they’ll probably throw “UREC” in there for good measure. Now you might say that people do this so others will know when a good time to contact them is, but I’ve read many schedule-away messages that end with “then I’m going to sleep,” or something to that effect.

Then there are away messages with subtext, passive aggression or even subtle threats.  These are the away messages that people really look for.  They say things like, “I’m watching a movie by myself because somebody forgot to call me to tell me what was going on tonight.” And then there’s my personal favorite away message, “At least if I have a problem with someone I don’t tell them through an away message, unlike some people I know.”

And therein lies the answer of why we check away messages so frequently. Sure, we like to keep up on the latest gossip, but also away messages have turned into a way that we communicate to each other. Waiting for that special someone to call you? Put “cell” or “around” as your away message, maybe that will help. Don’t want that stalker calling you?  Put “out” as your away message.  Want to make someone you’re interested in jealous?  Put up a schedule-away message and make sure you include a bunch of allusions to hanging out with members of the opposite sex.  Want some positive attention?  Put “depressed” or a sad face as your away message.  And of course, if you want to avoid a face-to-face confrontation, you can always write about your current frustrations with people in an away message.  Away messages are now a system of communication built on subtleties and understandings.

And then there are profiles. Profiles tend to be pretty much streamlined among JMU students.  There’s usually a shout out to their “crew” back home.  If someone belongs to a sorority or fraternity they put their letters in there.  People also like to include song lyrics (nine out of 10 times it’s The Shins), or quotes from other people that convey their philosophy of life… of the day.  If they are in a relationship, their profile will allude to that.  Sometimes people stick in links to other Web sites (usually a “buddy tracker” to see who has looked at their profile, or a site that contains their own digital pictures.)

Now, I understand a quote or song lyrics will every now and then strike you and you want to share them with everyone, but we need to start putting ourselves in our profiles. Write something original.  Put a story in there, jot down your philosophy in there, write an essay, make a poem, some commentary, a joke, just do something!  We have 1048 characters to do whatever we want with.  Let’s make something of them.

Robert Kramer is a sophomore media arts and design major.