Yesterday I received 18 e-mails. I sent 15.
My brother complains that I’m obsessed with my e-mail. I tell him, “I like my e-mail like you like your MSN and ICQ.” It’s quite true. I often have conversations with people over e-mail, exchanging two sentences at a time. This means that I will send an e-mail, leave for ten or fifteen minutes (to eat, to dance, to tidy my room) then check if I have any new e-mails. Frightfully inefficient. Why don’t I just login to ICQ?
I don’t know. I guess I hate the inane conversations people seem to have over Messenger/ICQ.
Sup
nothin. Whatcha doin
Waiting for my towel to dry. then Ill go have a shwer
cool
Wanna see taxi tomoz
yeah…hear its ok
k
I suppose you could have the same pointless, uncrafted conversations by e-mail. Maybe it depends on the person.
I’ll open this up for discussion. Who thinks instant messaging is a good way to have intelligent dialogue? Who thinks e-mail promotes more meaningful exchange? Do instant messaging and e-mail complement each other?
Memememememe! I use both! And sometimes, I talk to the same person over email and ICQ at the same time (you people know who you are!).
Email’s better for more complex conversations ’cause you can have lots of threads running at once, and because you often quote things as you reply, it doesn’t get confusing. And you can structure conversations however you like.
ICQ’s more like talking. You tend to go off on tangents, and you get confused if you try and talk about too many things at once.
So I happily use both. And sometimes I use email like chat too (since my email automatically checks for new messages every 2 minutes!).
Posted by Vera
I just downloaded Miranda IM. It’s cool — it does MSN, ICQ, Yahoo, IRC and Jabber, all in a tiny package that you could carry around on a floppy disk.
Now I remember why I ditched ICQ. It’s like walking into a train carriage and seeing someone you know. All you want to do is read or sleep on the train but now that they’ve seen you, you’re obligated to carry a conversation with them for about twenty minutes.
I ended up going invisible on ICQ all the time to avoid talking to people. At least with e-mail, you can pretend you’re not there :)
Posted by joanium
Email is much better for chunkier, packaged information, more like writing a letter than having a conversation (hence, e-MAIL). Even if you think you are having a complex conversation, _you aren’t_. The dynamics of a conversation are quite different to those of an email exchange. You certainly don’t get as much of a chance to carefully craft what you want to say in conversation as in an email.
For conversation, both email and ICQ are quite silly. If you *really* want to talk to someone, call them on the phone, or even better, go out and meet them in person! This is much friendlier and shows that you value them. Of course, if you don’t value them at all, keep chatting online — but aren’t you wasting your time as well as theirs?
It’s a sad fact that today this sort of simple logic doesn’t always apply. Good friends still chat away, even when they live close by and can easily meet.
When communicating with people overseas, however, using ICQ-like software is justified since alternatives are often quite expensive.
Posted by Beldar
By “conversation”, I meant any sort of back-and-forth exchange between two (or more) people, not necessarily a personal type of conversation as you seem to imply.
I have found email especially useful for technical discussions, and often use it for that purpose with friends. It beats conversation because there’s little digression, multiple threads can be discussed at once, and you don’t forget what’s been previously said — it’s all in front of you.
I also disagree that it is pointless to use instant messaging when you can see people in person. There are people who I meet up with very often, but still chat with. I find you talk about different things — when you meet up with people, you often end up talking about what’s around you, you get distracted by the surroundings. Or you go out to “do” something, so you don’t end up talking much. Chatting over the internet is much more introspective.
At least that’s how it works out when I use it.
Posted by Vera
Yes, there are multiple interpretations of “conversation” here. Sorry, I didn’t mean to imply that you were wrong Vera, I was just (clumsily) making the point that discussion via email tends to be different to discussion that occurs in face-to-face conversation. I agree with you that it’s especially useful for technical discussion, and the reasons you present are exactly what makes it different to conversation.
As for instant messaging, I admit I am being hypocritical. I am often caught chatting on ICQ for long periods of time. However, afterwards (or even during) I often wish I could get rid of the disabling computer interface and just chat in person. It feels much more natural and meaningful.
Maybe what’s really bugging me is that many people can’t have a good conversation face-to-face. Perhaps they get distracted, perhaps they only want to “do” and not talk. However, isn’t it sad if that’s all that happens when you meet people in person? It seems almost taboo trying to talk about any issue of importance with some people. They might even make you feel guilty for forcing them to actually think about what they are saying.
Posted by Beldar
Gee, Beldar, I have deep meaningful conversations with people face-to-face all the time! Maybe you need to hang out with me more… *wink*I would have thought that talking on ICQ/MSN was a bonus. You get to converse with them at 1 AM (and three other people). So instead of replacing normal conversation, it is an additional interaction?
Posted by joanium
Driving down to your friend’s house at 1 AM to hang out and chat is great fun, try it! Of course, you need to be willing to devote a decent chunk of your night to do so, but if you are chatting away at 1 AM then I guess you already are.
Posted by Beldar
I second that! Chatting to friends into the wee (and not-so-wee) hours of the morning is great fun. In fact, me and a good friend recently sat in my car and chatted and did the paradox cryptic crossword until about 4am. The worst thing about it, was that it was the night that daylight saving came into effect, argh…
Posted by Daniel