Instant messaging a danger?

Instant messaging or more popularly known as IM in Internet slang is by sending real time messages to another Internet user. This type of messaging is more private compared to other types of chatting where you can only chat with people you choose to invite. Users can reply instantly as if they are chatting with each other face to face in real life. Popular IMs are Yahoo! Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, ICQ and AIM (AOL Instant Messenger).


From Left to Right: Yahoo Messenger, Windows Live Messeger, ICQ and AOL Instant Messenger.


So what are the risks that we face if we use this feature? First of all, IM is a very vulnerable application where viruses and worms can attack the computer once it is transmitted through these applications. The risk of losing information especially those which are private and confidential in companies’ computer networks are really very consequential. Besides virus, abusive language, gossip, sexual advances and complaints are highly popular usages of IM in workplace (Ferrell 2003). According to Blue Coat, barely a quarter of workers used IM exclusively for business purposes, while more than 65 percent used IM for personal communications while on the company clock.

Real time messaging can occur with strangers however, which leads to a problem nowadays and this brings us back to one of my previous post on cyber crime, The Darkness in the cyber world. As mentioned in the previous post, users can stay anonymous on the Internet where pedophiles lurk. They target the young innocent children by chatting with them and since one wouldn’t know what someone is really saying through online chatting, they would easily get tricked.

Misunderstandings are easier to happen when chatting online. As Adler & Rodman (2000) said, sometimes joking remarks which are mistaken by the receiver as serious statements may cause huge problems. This may be cause by what Kress and van Leeuwen(1998) had to say “Particular cultures provide particular trainings for readers”.



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Reference:

Adler, RB & Rodman, G 2000, Understanding Human Communication, 7th edn. , Harcourt College Publishers, United States of America, pg. 147.

Ferrell, K 2003, “Sex, Abuse And Instant Messaging: Study Finds IM Problems Rampant”, viewed 26 October 2007.
http://www.techweb.com/wire/story/TWB20030917S0007

Kress, G & van Leeuwen, T 1998, ‘Front pages: (the critical) analysis of newspaper layout’, in Bell, A & Garrett, P (eds) 1998, Approaches to media discourse, Blackwell, Oxford, chapter 7, pp. 186-219.

Wise Geeks 2007, “What is Instant Messaging?”, viewed 25 October 2007. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-instant-messaging.htm