Away messages give students a way with words

The space stares blankly, stark white, begging for something to be written. Copying off someone else is not an option, but there isn't anything to write. \nThe anxiety ensues. Under pressure and out of time, the keys click to spell out, "Studying. Call the cell." The "I'm Away" button is pressed and the miniature yellow sticky note pops up next to the screen name. It feels like the worst away message ever.\nStudents all over campus use online communications like AOL Instant Messenger and MSN to communicate with friends at IU and elsewhere. The habit of reading away messages and checking personal online profiles has become the an addiction in online communication.\nJunior Brett Rozanczyk said he likes to be on AIM 24-hours-a-day, though it doesn't usually occur due to technological problems.\n"I don't usually talk, but I always have an away message up," Rozanczyk said.\nMary Gray, assistant professor of communication and culture, said online resources like profiles and away messages are a place where students and young adults can identify themselves.\n"It is a place to assert who they are," Gray said. "It expresses to the world who they are that can be updated constantly."\nGray said because there aren't as many public places for kids to communicate anymore, online chatting has become a public, neutral place to perform communication.\n"It's a space to display who they are, what's on their mind," Gray said.\nGray also said the interest in reading online "away" messages simply refers to being interested in friends' whereabouts.\n"It's a way to keep track of people," Gray said. "There is a social anxiety in a busy world that checking up on people (reading away messages) ... is interfacing that anxiety."\nRozanczyk said his away messages are used mainly for entertainment, whether he's reading them or typing one himself.\n"I exaggerate what I'm doing, I very rarely have what I am actually doing as an away message," Rozanczyk said. "I like funny quotes. I usually put something totally obscure or random."\nRozanczyk also uses AIM to keep in contact with friends from home.\n"It's the easy way out to keep in touch with friends, to say 'hi' or 'how you doing?'" he said. "You don't waste time and avoid that awkwardness and uncomfortable pauses."\nSusan Herring, a professor in the School of Library & Information Sciences, is performing a study which "involves analyzing the instant messages of students in undergraduate telecommunication courses at IU." She said in the information collected, most students were not distracted by instant messaging and that topics of conversation generally didn't require much attention.\n"(Students who submitted information) mostly sent the messages in their spare time, often while engaging in other activities, such as getting ready for the day, doing homework, watching TV, etc.," Herring said. "They seem to be able to divide their attention effectively, so that IMing doesn't distract them too much."\nRozanczyk said to him, reading away messages is a diversion, not a distraction, when doing homework.\n"I keep track of what people are doing during the day and use it as a mindless diversion," he said. "It's a compliment, not a substitute."\nFreshman Kristin Burke feels AIM is a deterrent when she's trying to get homework done.\n"Instant messaging is a distraction to me," Burke said. "I would rather be talking to people than getting work done."\nFreshman Ben Kipfer feels he doesn't obsessively read online profiles and away messages and that chatting is not a major distraction for him.\n"Sometimes it's nice to know where your friends are to save time, but sometimes it's a distraction when my friends IM me and I'm trying to do homework," Kipfer said.\nHerring said there are generally three reasons why students use AIM. \n"(First is to) touch base with a friend for no particular reason other than to chat, to contact a friend to get information or plan a social event, and to have a sexually-explicit conversation," she said.\nHerring guessed the reason why students are so interested in reading online profiles and checking away messages is because they reveal an IMer's personality.\n"(Away messages) are often crafted to be amusing, clever, shocking, etc., and because they reveal people's personalities," Herring said. "That makes them interesting," \n-- Contact staff writer Ashley Lough at amlough@indiana.edu.