Instant messaging is a whole new way of communicating, and the rules are still being defined. Even though I’ve been using mechanisms like ICQ since 1996, I still find myself carefully approaching boundaries I perceive and assume others are aware of.

I remember as a child being taught to answer the phone in our kitchen, it was rotary dial, white, and had a really long cord. When answering it, I had to say “ residence, this is Maigh” and if I didn’t, the privilege of being allowed to answer the phone was revoked.

The other rules that came with it are engrained in me now: you don’t call anyone after 9pm unless someone is in the hospital. You close the call with “good-bye”, you don’t answer call waiting if you’re on with your Grandmother.

The first time I slammed down the phone in a fit of anger, I broke it. It was an answering machine phone my mother had given me as a reward for something or another, maybe not changing my hair color that week or being sent to the principals’ office. Whatever it was, it felt good. I was 16 and full of rage. If the phone rang and you didn’t want to talk, you didn’t answer, no one knew you were really there with a pillow over your head or the phone in the freezer.

My friend Leah mentioned a great bit David Cross had about “looking at porn and having his mom IM him”.(see also: official site)

Seriously, technology has changed everything. You’ve heard it before, and it’s ridiculous how grossly incapable we are of understanding it.

Kids (and adults) can (and do) answer their cell phones in any way they choose at any time they deem appropriate. I’ve been greeted many times in ways that would be punishable in the homes of my youth. Hell, most of my communication anymore seems to be done in Instant Messaging.

Imagine it. The youth of today can crank IM each other then put a block on so their friends can’t retort. When I crank called, it was before caller ID (damn I’m old). Juveniles in soured relationships can just throw a block on their ex.

IM is a new ocean for exploration on our crazy planet, I’ll be out there splashing around in the waves Christopher Colombus-ing it…looking for the edges.

Terminally cool tool : Trillian