I fear the iChat / journal / hicksdesign

12/06/04

I fear the iChat

I'm scared

I’ve had rather a lot of complaints in the last month or so that I don’t open iChat often enough. In fact – I’m never online – period. I don’t want to play the whining “Busy freelance designer with a young family” card yet again, but I’m going to have to. Every time I open iChat, about 4 messages pop up, inquiring “Are you there Hicks?!!”. Then I get embroiled in some gentle chit chat, and another 5 pop up – “Instant message from ToastMan27072”, etc. Before I know it, a day has passed with no work done. At the moment I have SO much work on, I shouldn’t even be writing this, let alone indulging in fripperies such as iChatting. Its not a nice feeling though, I feel as if I’m missing out.

What I really liked about iChat was just seeing that other people were alive and OK. Checking out what Jeremy’s playing, admiring Dan’s new buddy icon. Its like seeing a life support readout for all your friends – there all there, there all OK.

Anyway, can you blame me for my fear, when you get things like this? This is an iChat with a ‘client’, where we were discussing a logo design. Somehow, instant messaging doesn’t seem like the best tool for communication. (The clients buddy icon has been changed to protect their identity…)

be well

Technorati Tags Tags: ichat, im, software

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Comments are now closed, but you can still have a jolly time reading what others have left:

Dan said 1587 days ago:

We really do miss you, Jon! You could just get an ultra-secret-shown-only-to-your-closest-friends account, if you wanted. Of course that would exclude me ... ;-) but at least you'd be online!

Phill R Kenoyer said 1587 days ago:

I know exactly how you feel. I get that all the time from co-workers. They will bug me to no end if I have iChat turned on. I can't get anything done between chatting and surfing blogs.

Josh Bryant said 1587 days ago:

Open iChat > preferences > Privacy > "allow people in my buddy list"

You won't get any unwanted messages, and only the people you have added to your list will be able to see your online status and speak with you. You can also just allow specific people if you don't want everyone one your list seeing you online either.

It does wonders for being able to use iChat without worrying about the random bothers.

Jon Hicks said 1586 days ago:

Thats the problem Josh - I don't have time to chat to ANYONE! ;o)

Peter Zignego said 1586 days ago:

For the record, from a PC-users point of view, iChat sure does look cool:P

Greg said 1586 days ago:

John. Dude. I want to party with you, because if you're getting swimsuit pictures IM'ed to you from clients (clients no less!) then I can't imagine what your party scene must be like.

Justin Blanton said 1586 days ago:

Jon,

I know exactly how you feel. After having used just about every messaging application since around 1993 (ICQ, AIM, and most of all, IRC), I was scared I could never be weaned from them, but before I started law school last year I decided that I was going to have to quit cold-turkey, else I wasn't going to get ANYTHING done. I, like you apparently, log on every once in a blue moon, and within five minutes I have 20 messages waiting for long replies about my life or for help with something, or.... nothing gets done. Near the end of my incessant use of these clients, I would always set myself as away and would respond only when I felt I could spare the conversation time, but even that ate up too much time and I realized that I was going to have to defer any communication to e-mails and phones for the forseseeable future.

Dan, the ultra-secret-shown-only-to-your-closest-friends account always gets out. :\

Jason Santa Maria said 1586 days ago:

I think the problem lies in your friends :D

What you need to do is only give out your IM name to people who are just as busy freelancing as you. When I sign on I don't have time to talk to anyone, and they don't have time to talk to me. We can just bask in knowing that we are alive together. If you ever want to know I'm alive Jon, just send me your IM name. *sigh*

But it's also there for the latest gossip. "Oh no he diddin design that!"

Hey Dan, why don't we exchange IMs? We could talk about growing up in Philly. represent. I need coffee.

Nathan Borror said 1586 days ago:

I find that when I'm alone, I'm not alone as long as iChat is open. I rarely want to talk to anyone but just knowing that I can at any moment is comforting.

Spying what others are doing and listening too is fun :)

#10

Veerle Pieters said 1585 days ago:

Boy, and I thought I had a bit of an iChat addiction, but it's comforting to know that I'm not alone. This might sound crazy but seeing other people in my iChat with a status "@work", "Busy", "Sweating on I.E. issues" etc. makes me comfortable and gives me courage certainly during late evening hours, knowing I'm not the only one working so long.

I also never start a conversation myself just for the same reason as you Jon, it's just too time-consuming.

#11

Jon Hicks said 1585 days ago:

Good to know others have the same problem. Maybe if I set my status to 'Don't talk to me - just observing'?

#12

Jason Santa Maria said 1585 days ago:

Sounds good, so what's you name? :D

I am trying to build ties overseas, ya know, just in case I need somewhere to lay low for a while.

#13

Jon Hicks said 1585 days ago:

You might not have very long Jason - they were round here today askin' questions - sniffin' around. I didn't tell em nuttin' I swear...

#14

Jason Santa Maria said 1585 days ago:

I am used to it by now... for me the life of a designer has always been tempered by my life as a vigilante on the run. Much like Caine from Kung Fu, Bruce Banner, or the A-Team, I am always on the move, town to town, kicking ass and solving the (design) problems of those less fortunate.

#15

Brad Brooks said 1585 days ago:

Jon, you have some weird clients.

I have iChat and Proteus load at startup, and they're always the first thing I quit.

Never ever give clients an IM address. It's bad enough when they phone you seven times a day :-)

#16

Neko said 1585 days ago:

I agree with Brad here: never give them your IM details. Once, I gave a client my ICQ number, hell, he even didn't know ICQ at all so I installed it on his PC, created an account for him and added myself to the list.

For some strange reason, this guy likes to sit in office even on Sundays and late evening ('till midnight or later), and since I was his only ICQ acquaintance, it was a continuos "uuh-aah" (message sound), even during the weirdest time of the day. >_>;;;

#17

Jon Hicks said 1585 days ago:

This client was rather special though! ;o)

#18

Brad Brooks said 1585 days ago:

To paraphrase Monty Python:

"I don't care how sodding special they are..."

Giving them your IM details is the path to hell, hell I tells ya... :-)

#19

Garrett Murray said 1584 days ago:

About a year ago I changed screen names to something only one character different and deleted 100 of my 120 "buddies." Then I checked the box so that only those 20 people can message me.

Best thing I ever did. At least now, when I'm actually online, I only get messages from people I want to talk to.

On a side note--it's worth having iChat on every now and then to talk to the boys at Segpub. Jez is on all the time and is a great guy. I always get the inside dirt on the company's goings-on, and he's quick to help you solve problems if you've got them (which, since you're hosted by them, you probably don't).

(Plus you could then join a Halo game? Although in this case, be prepared to tell all of your clients to go to hell.)

#20

Jon Hicks said 1584 days ago:

Sure, I can restrict who sees that I'm online, but I still don't have the time! I iChatted to Jez when I was quizzing him about SegPub, and that was probably the last iChat I had - back in March!