preview

Essay on Instant Messaging and College Students

Better Essays

Instant Messaging and College Students

In the past few years, technology has taken over our world. Our lives are flowing rapidly into a technology-based planet; can you remember a time when people did not walk around with a cell phone attached to their heads? Do you recall a time when you had to pull out the map book to find directions instead of heading over to www.mapquest.com? One of the newer technological devices to make its way into the United States, and especially into the lives of college students, is instant messenger. The question we must ask ourselves about instant messenger, a question we must ask about any new piece of technology is, does this creation benefit us or harm us? Instant messenger has many positive …show more content…

First, I will look the positive qualities of instant messaging. One good thing about instant messaging is that it is quick and easy to use. At Calvin College, as most other colleges, students have direct access to the internet, and therefore instant messaging, right in their dorm rooms. In fact its access is so convenient that Ethan Fry says, “You would really have to be living under a rock to be in college and not know what AOL Instant Messenger is” (“AOL Instant Messenger a College Must”). Because of its easy access, many students use this program. For example, my “buddy list” has increased by twenty-eight since my arrival at school. Since so many students use instant messenger, it becomes a key way for scholars to communicate. It is much easier to quickly instant message five people and ask, “Do you want to go eat dinner?” than look up their phone numbers, and call each one, one at a time.

Instant messaging does more than create easy communication; it is a social experience as well. As many will attest, it is much easier and less stressful to talk online than on the phone or in person. It has a certain impersonal aspect to it, which one can hide behind when communicating. No one has to see if one is angry or upset if he or she does not want him or her to. It is an especially helpful device for shy people. They can start a relationship online, and eventually build it up to one where they can meet in

Get Access