October 21, 2003
Home is Where Your Technology Is?... Let's take five with Moira Gunn. This is "Five Minutes".
Thanksgiving is coming right up, and that means all those college Freshman, away from home for the first time are just burning to get back and see their family and friends. Being plunged into strange surroundings and unexpected challenges, this first visit home is like water to the thirsty ... or at least it used to.
I am once again reminded that technology doesn't just spawn new services or conveniences; sometimes it changes the way we live. In this case, it's the convergence of two technologies that has changed the status quo: Namely, the sudden ubiquity of the cell phone with its now cheap nationwide service, and the Internet-wide technology of Instant Messaging.
With Instant Messaging, or "IM" as it's called, you can have an individual and private chat room with anyone who's online. A little box simply appears on your screen: You type in your message, and your buddy types back. This all sounds pretty innocuous, but when combined with the cell phone, it's spawned a social and psychological phenomenon.
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Starting with the cell phone, my kids and I share the same account, so we call each other from wherever we happen to be anywhere in the US. We do it essentially for free, and we do it at any hour of the day and night. Beyond the typical parental requests for economic assistance, my kids call each other, as brothers tend to do, and they also call their friends. None of their friends have to be in their rooms, and with caller ID, the occasional call from someone else's telephone enables a fast call-back without having to write down the number. (I must say this feature proved invaluable recently when one of said cell phones took a spin in the wash cycle.)
While I think we all understand the experience of the cell phone, now let's add in Instant Messaging.
Kids in college today all have access to computers, and whenever they turn them on, they right away connect to the Internet. In the darkest hours of the night, they'll be up studying and at the same time have a whole host of Instant Messaging sessions going: their old pal from high school, their best friend, the kid they take class with, their brothers and sisters and cousins - all up there on the screen, all at once in private conversations.
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I didn't get this phenomenon until last September when I logged onto the Internet and an IM box popped up from my college Freshman son. The message read: "Hiya! How are you? Have you mailed my posters?"
This sudden and unexpected interchange was terrific, but how did he know I was online? Quite simply, he had put my email address on his Instant Message list, and it notified him when I logged on.
Now I also have his name on my Instant Message list, but I'm smart enough not to bother him all that much. You see, just knowing he's logged on tells me he must be ok.
And what about the kids? Well, I figured that out recently, as well. Planning this same son's Thanksgiving homecoming recently, I commented that he must be looking forward to catching up with everyone. Unexpectedly, there was a pause, followed by a quizzical reply, "Mom, I talk to them every day."
I stand corrected ... but pleasantly so. Keeping in touch is part of the fabric of belonging; it's part of a sense of feeling connected. Clearly, being away from those you care about never needs to be so isolating again.
I'm Moira Gunn. This is Five Minutes.
