Check box if you like me

Even in college, we can’t get away from passing 5th-grade notes. Everyone remembers passing those silly things in middle school (and high school for some of us). Passing them to the girl or guy we liked, proposing on paper, finding out if our affection will be returned. Look at us, we are in college, in institutions of higher education, and we haven’t gotten pass the notion of passing notes to see if someone likes us.
But with time comes advances of technology. Instant messaging. Whether you use AOL Instant Messenger, MSN Messenger or Yahoo! Messenger, I currently have all three installed on my computer, they allow us to talk to people without actually having to talking to them.
Instant Messaging, or IMing in cyber lingo, replaces writing notes in the sense that we can tell someone something without having to be there face-to-face to get the answer. ”Hey, I really dig you. I like you. You look pretty. Wanna go out with me? – Love, Chris (that guy in your history class).”
Take my latest relationship.
We knew each other through friends for a year or two. She saw me at a function one day and realized I was cute and that maybe she wanted to see where things could go. Well, it would be awkward for her, and me, if she all of the sudden called me on the phone or stopped me on campus. That would be too forward, too obivious, it would make her too vulnerable. She got my screen name from a mutual friend and in two different bedrooms; we got all that uncomfortable getting-to-know-you business out of the way. We both knew we liked each other and before either of us knew it, we were dating.
And like the notes in middle school, IMing has its downsides. If you are a horrible speller, as I am, or cannot construct an intelligent sentence, I have Microsoft Word to help me, the recipient of the note can have an unfair opinion on you. The way girls liked to fold the notes as if they were Origami art was incredibly annoying. It would take longer to try to unfold the note without ripping it then it would take reading it and forget trying to fold it back, you had a better chance of sleeping with the girl on the first date. Now, girls have the option of using cheesy smiley faces in the text of IMs. And not only smiley faces, but cute ones, and “devil” ones, and ones with confused and sad little yellow faces.
And, meaning.
The meaning of what you are trying to say in an IM conversation can be lost, misconstrued against you or possibly go over someone’s head. Jokes go without applause, revelations of true feelings are read as jokes. My one piece of advice in this piece is if you have something urgent, important to say. Call. OK, I have a second piece of advice, before you go into an intimate conservation about your lustful feelings for someone over IM, it’s always a good idea to ask if she’s alone so you don’t have to explain yourself to her friends.