When I signed offline last weekend to go home for Father’s Day, something happened that hadn’t happened in a LONG time: I didn’t even care about going back online for the whole time I was away. Now, like most of people in the modern world, I must check my e-mail a few times every day, I need a cell phone to be accessible 24/7, and I get most of my news from news websites and blogs.

That’s just the way things are in 2005. And if you don’t believe that, then you’re sadly mistaken or just caught in some time warp.

However, like most people my age (and younger) I’m also an AIM freak. Hey, it keeps you in touch with your friends, right? Right? Well, last weekend I began to question that idea. You see, the entire time that I was home and not online (something like three days offline), I obviously didn’t get any IMs and I didn’t really feel the need to IM anyone. When I wanted to tell someone something, I sent them a text message on my cell.

Now far be it from me to completely forget about the Instant Messenger as a major mode of communication. I’ll always use it as long as it’s still a staple of the internet communication scene. After last weekend, though, I don’t know whether I’ll keep myself signed on for days on end like I used to, but I’ll definitely still use it.

And think about it - I guarantee that most of the people on your buddy list right now are away. I know that at any given time, 90% of my buddy list is away. And what are the away messages? Well, most of them are the standard default away message (way to be creative everyone!). Most of the remaining away messages are nothing more than “I’m at work - leave a message for later” or something generic like that.

Now I know that I don’t IM these people when they’re away and believe me, they don’t IM me. So that got me to thinking - why keep yourself online all day and all night and forever and ever if no one is going to IM you and you’re not really going to leave messages on the IMs of the 90% of your buddies who are away?

For the first time since before I went to college, it just seems weird to me…

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