ICQ Essay -- Communication Technology Computers Essays

ICQ "Uh oh!" At the familiar, high-pitched voice, my head snaps up from the assignment I am completing half-heartedly and turns to my computer screen. My hand has already moved unconsciously towards the computer's mouse, even before my eyes even make contact with the screen. Sure enough, the sound indicated that a message awaits me, and I double-click on the flashing yellow icon in the bottom right corner of my screen. For almost an hour now, I have been engaged in this "conversation" over ICQ, an Internet-chat program, with a high school friend who currently attends another university. I am also chatting simultaneously with four other friends about separate topics. Ever since coming to college, ICQ and email have become my primary methods of keeping in contact with, leaving messages for, and having discussions with my friends. When I meet a person, the first means for establishing future contact is no longer "What is your phone number?" but rather, "What is your email address?" which is closely followed by "Do you have ICQ?" Electronic communication media are not only convenient, but they are economical and allow instantaneous contact. If I initiate an ICQ Chat with one of my friends, I can even save it as a file and replay the conversation with every detail, including the misspellings and corrections. Information technology has boomed in the last ten years or so. We seem to have landed in the middle of a completely networked world without quite knowing how we got there. Distance no longer inhibits communication, and we have become a world that is better connected. Or have we? My freshman year college roommate spent his entire freshman year ICQ-ing, IM-ing (i.e. Instant Messenger, America... ... Perhaps driving to the store, picking out groceries, and getting into an argument with the checkout person will do us more good than the half hour we save by grocery shopping through HomeRuns.com. A little over a week ago, when a virus wiped out my computer, I lost network access in my room. I dreaded the inconveniences I would face before getting my computer fixed. No more ICQ, no more instant email. For a two weeks now, I have needed to check my email in a friend's room, read a newspaper to find out the news and the weather instead of checking cnn.com, and make phone calls in order to locate people instead of ICQing them. As I evaluate these two Internet-less weeks, however, I find that I have had more intellectually stimulating conversations in this week than I have had in the previous month. Who knows? I may resist the desire to fix the connection.