Cyberculture

My first experience with cyber culture occurred when I first acquired the internet in middle school. My main cyber culture has always been AIM: AOL instant messenger. It allows me to communicate with friends that I have everywhere and anywhere. It's best used to keep multiple conversations going on at once and keep in touch with friends who may have moved away. AIM is a great tool to develop relationships with people you may not usually have had an opportunity to make friends with, because you would not have had the time. Along with the positive aspects, AIM can take a toll on one's vocabulary and grammar. The shorthand and jargon used in AIM conversations can take away from the proper use of grammar learned in school and make one's vocabulary lazy. It can also lead to annoying or possibly harmful conversations involving individuals you had no intention of conversing with, which calls for a certain awareness when using AIM. I never anticipated that AIM would become a nearly unavoidable habit. But as time goes on I’ve noticed as I get older it’s not as big of a “need” as it used to be when I was first introduced to it.