As a college student, I don't have tons of extra money to spend. So instant messenger saves me a ton of money. I sign on and leave it on all day long. Then, whenever I see that one of my high school friends is online, we can chat about what's new or about our old friends. And it costs us nothing. We can talk for a minute or an hour and still, no charge.
I also use this to talk to my parents. My parents call me once every week, and sometimes in between if something is important. They want me to have my space and independence. But, if they go online and I'm on, we chat for a few minutes about our days. This saves my parents the time of writing long emails and waiting for responses.
A great thing about IM is that I can put up an away message while I'm at class or out of my room. This way, my friends know that I'm not around, but can still send me messages that are saved until I turn the away message off. This way you never miss anything.
Another good thing about IM is that its so easy to use. Even my grandmother uses it. My parents, who aren't very computer literate, use IM all the time now. You can ignore people you don't want to talk to, create a buddy list that tells you when your friends and family are online, and warn people if they are disturbing you. And, I'll say it again: Its FREE!



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