Prioritization of Communication
Won't you look at me in the eye when you speak?
Wednesday, 19.10.2005Here's what I think about IM and IRC and all the rest of the modern-day computer-based communication systems:
They suck.
Why, you ask? It's simple--you can fake the fact that you're having multiple conversations at once.
As an example, let me take the paradigm of AOL Instant Messanger, one of the masses' favorite way to communicate aside from real life.
AIM always gives you notice when someone IMs you, a little sound or a flashing window by default. And whatever you're doing, it's awfully hard to ignore that newly sitting message on your desktop; you'll abandon your task in progress and type a reply.
It's even worse when there's more than one person online, as they'll start talking to you as well, and you have to start switching between windows and typing replies.
Probably one of the worst examples of IM-conversation-faking is documented in the series The Scene, in which the main character tries to use AOL Instant Messanger to work with his relationship while trying to delete pirated files that could lead him in jail.
If the analogy was extracted to real life, it'd be much like taking a dose of acid while trying to talk to the FBI--a slap in the face, if you will.
The odd thing is, people seem to accept this behavior as normal, as if it's a perfectly normal social convention. It's not.
The other thing this behavior fosters is impatience. A friend might IM you, and then ask, "Hey, are you there?" no less than 30 seconds later. It's infuriating--don't these people think I have other things to do? Maybe I'm trying to concentrate on talking to one person at a time and extending the thought process that goes into my responses. Of course, maybe they're also just assuming that whoever's there is doing that conversation-switching, multitasking feat; some people even try to multitask multiple IM conversations and do their homework at the same time. I don't see how they can do that without one of those items suffering badly in quality.
What we need are IM clients that can be ignored. That's what I think, and that's what I use--command line clients like Irssi and Naim. No bells, no whistles, and I have to check for my messages, much like mail.
The entire IM paradigm of "instant contant, instant response" has turned social interaction into a thing that can be shoved into convenient time sockets and be viewed as a light-hearted item without any repercussions.
That's just entirely unacceptable to me.