It is a matter of opinion/of what you do with it....
For those who need to talk to people on the other side of the world, IM can be very usefull. It can be even a hobby (as it is for many of the people here). In this way, it is very usefull...
But for someone who isn't that computer-literate or has a very active real life and thus doesn't use IM that much (or not at all), it can be seen as a complete waste of time...
But this goes for all hobbies. For me, collecting post stamp is a complete waste of time; for other people it is a way of life....
At least, IM can be very usefull and cheap (phonecall vs IM to a friend who's on holiday). Collecting post stamps isn't that usefull (AFAIK at least
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quote:
Originally posted by traxor
without it, would you be here now, or what would you be doing, probably sat doing nothing, or something stupid like watching the television non-stop all day...
Or doing something else usefull/useless...
quote:
Originally posted by traxor
The main benefits of MSN is that we're a social species, unlike some other species that don't need to be around others and have friendships... We are a species that get lonely if we don't talk to people etc. so having MSN or any other instant messaging programs, on that matter, is a high point in our natural lifestyle...
Other people would prefer to go out to a bar/restaurant/discotheek/etc...
It is all matter of opinion and what you're used to do.
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But on this same topic...
Everything which has to do with internet and computers is addictive, the more you use it, the more you wanna use it, .... So in that sense, yes it is true that IM also wastes a lot of your time...
Unless you are extremely well diciplined and can turn of that humming box with screen (I bet everybody here has already come across a situation were he/she was wasting time on the net, IM'ing, while he/she should have been doing something else....).
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Once (a good 10 years ago), I was in a documentary with the community from the IRC channel #Vlaanderen and #Belgium. The documentary was exactly about this, IM, IRC and that sort of stuff. The question asked by S3xy was the main subject in that program and many things said here in this thread, have of course also been said in that program. Although, after filming, and after editing, they showed the documentary as if we all were weird, unsocialized people.... It all comes down to perception and understanding (the guys who filmed the subject didn't know anything about computers, let alone how an internet community worked; unfortunatly, it was his perception of us that was showed, instead of an unbiased view of things which they prommised to show)....
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So, to recap, in the poll I miss the option "it depends on how you look at it" or something like that...
/ 
