Brb, g2g

So, have you ever been in an online conversation with a friend, whether through MSN or Facebook and you're talking for a few minutes about something you see as incredibly interesting and you're waiting to see their response; what you do get in reply, though, is "hey, anyway, I g2g now, speak soon xx"

And then they don't go.

You then become some kind of weird stalker, watching their online status persistently. Has anyone else ever found themselves staring at that little green dot on Facebook chat? "Surely it should be a grey dot by now if they've gone..."



I know, right? You just become a loser, like "oh, maybe they forgot to sign out or something". And then they post a status and you think "they're online?! How rude!"



MSN is worse. You're chatting away to someone online and they suddenly announce "brb". We all know that after 5 minutes the green box surrounding a display picture should turn orange if they're inactive. But it's still green. They're still online. "Did they just not wanna talk to me?" you find yourself thinking.
There's a group on our treasured Facebook titled 'Brb... I'm not really going anywhere, but neither is this conversation'.
"Oh gosh," I think, "I'm that person". But then, aren't we all guilty of it sometimes? I do occasionally tell people I'm off to do something or "brb" and never actually leave. I just can't be bothered to converse.
What is it about online instant messaging mediums that sets people in this state of mind where you think people should be talking to you just because you're both online at the same time? I mean, in real life just because you find yourself in the same building as someone doesn't mean you need to go and talk to them, so why do we feel that way about instant messaging? People are surely entitled to carry on their daily lives as they want without feeling obliged to start an awkward chat. But that's the thing, though; if they're online you know, or seem to think you do, that they clearly have nothing better to do. They're not out partying or meeting up with friends or working, they're sitting in their bedrooms typing away at their computer. At what moment do they decide to click that little cross in the top right corner of your chat box?
So is this a problem with us or is it a problem with just online messaging? I've always found one of the key issues with instant messaging is that it doesn't carry tone of voice. You could say one thing and mean it in a totally jokey way, but to the other party it might come across as extremely offensive. For example, I could say "so's your mum" in reply to a playful insult, but because they don't hear the way I said it they might actually think I'm being serious! Ouch!
Why don't we just meet more often in person? Why don't we just talk more on the phone? It's because instant messaging allows us to have several conversations with people from different social circles all at the same time. It's convenience, and we put convenience before importance. I do it sometimes when I'm researching something for an assignment. Why walk to the library when I can search Google, I find myself thinking. Does it make us lazy or inconsiderate? Instant messaging is a God-send for most young people. It's another way to keep in touch with various friends and when Facebook came up with its chat feature you couldn't think how the website could get any more perfect. But the more time we spend talking online, the less things we actually have to talk about. Maybe sometimes friends realise that before you do. I know I do when it's the other way round. Maybe they think it better off talking to you when you have something interesting to talk about, rather than have a boring, one-word-answer kind of conversation that usually goes along the lines of "hey, how's you?" - "fine thanks, you?" - "Yeah good. Wubu2?" - "Nothing much, you?" - "same". How many times do we find ourselves in these dire discourses with our loved ones? I find it to be quite often.
Anyway, brb.