Brian Frein

In retrospect, the killer feature was the "Sign Off" button. AOL Instant Messenger was synchronous. Unlike texting, seeing a "buddy" online generally meant they were present and open to chat. After a while, you left (as though from a real place), and the sound of a door slamming shut confirmed your exit. You were no longer there, and everyone knew it. Life was good. Then we made chat asynchronous. You may think iMessage is the spiritual evolution of AIM, but they are not the same species. In an asynchronous experience, everyone is always simultaneously online and away. Not far enough 'away' to be 'offline', but not present either. You can only know if the other person is really here by sending a message and watching for the status to change from Sent to Read. Call it "Schroedinger's Chat" I know this sounds like an Andy Rooney bit (a reference only the AIM OGs will understand), but I am not asking to go back. I just think we left something behind that we need to bring back. We all live on the Internet now. We are 'here' every day for hours, and yet we have no presence. We are asynchronous ghosts in most of today's apps. We could use more synchronicity. At least enough to notice when someone isn't present. Enough to "Sign Off" and hear the door slam as you go.