R U IMing?

INSTANT MESSGIING POLL: Summary

DIGITAL TALK: More than four in 10, or 43 percent, of teens who instant message use it for things they wouldn't say in person, according to an Associated Press-AOL poll released Thursday.

RELATIONSHIP HELP: Twenty-two percent use IMs to ask people out on dates or accept them, and 13 percent use them to break up.

AGE DIFFERENCE: Overall, nearly half of teens age 13 to 18 said they use instant messaging. Only about one in five adults said they use IMs, though usually with less technological aplomb or hormone-driven social drama.





Sure, instant messaging is fast and efficient. For many teenagers, it's also a great way to avoid those OMG moments — that's "omigod" — of mortifying face-to-face confrontations.
More than four in 10 teens, or 43 percent, who instant message use it for things they wouldn't say in person, according to an Associated Press-AOL poll released Thursday. Twenty-two percent use IMs to ask people out on dates or accept them, and 13 percent use them to break up.

"If they freak out or something, you don't see it," said Cassy Hobert, 17, a high school senior from Frenchburg, Ky., and avid IMer who has used it to arrange dates. "And if I freak out, they don't have to see it."

Overall, nearly half of teens age 13 to 18 said they use instant messaging, those staccato, Internet-borne strings of real-time chatter often coupled with enough frenzied multitasking to fry the typical adult brain. Only about one in five adults said they use IMs — though usually with less technological aplomb or hormone-driven social drama.

Danny Hitt, 34, a real estate agent in Riverside, Calif., says he has chatted with four or five IM buddies at once — a number some teens would consider embarrassingly low. He prefers the telephone for important communications.

"To me, a significant conversation takes a phone call," Hitt said. "The inflection in the voice, you lose that" with instant messages.

Instant messaging's lack of physical proximity is exactly the point for those determined to avoid cringe-inducing episodes.