This was kind of inspired by Daniel's post about peaking early, which for the record, he did.
I had a strange experience over the Aol instant messenger which I think all started with Jake telling me to get a screen name. So at that point I was about 4 foot 9 and about 80 pounds, which contributed to me being at my most introverted and shyest point of my life. So I used Jake's budding social skills as my conduit to the world of the cool kids. So when I finally got my AIM account up and running, I had a buddy list, one friend strong. His screen name? Wingman836. Let me tell you what, that 13 year old kid was one hell of a wingman. He gave me the screen names of all the popular girls in the eighth grade. This was my gateway out of my cocoon into the social butterfly of the internet/blue ridge middle school. One of screen names he gave me was Jacque Christy's and hence my slow, awkward, and ineffective courting began. A couple of weeks, maybe a month or so went by of exchanging instant messages and then I finally got the guts to give her a call. In this phone call I invited her over to my house to hangout on a Friday afternoon after school. Not only that but she would be riding the bus home with me. Which at the time seemed like a big deal, I remember needing a note from parents and everything. I'm sure Jake and Matt both remember that infamous bus route. But that's a whole other story.
Apparently the fact that she agreed to hang out with me at my house was a big deal. I didn't really know why or what that meant. I had never had a girl come over to my house before, what the hell was I supposed to do? I assumed that I was supposed to make a move, since the next Monday in art class everybody asked me if I "hooked up" with her. God knows what that meant in middle school. Long story short, I didn't. But I'm sure you all knew that. I think we played some sort of game and watched the Simpsons, and she laid down on the couch next to me. And then we pretty much never talked again. So I made huge strides. The only thing I can remember when I think about this is that in the eighth grade, I was a suave motherfucker.
Ah, ye olde Matthew DeBruycker. Was it another life? Another world? Instant Messenger definitely deserves its due for really getting the internet rolling. Before that we basically just got lost at Yahoo or Lycos or whatever the hell people used to search before Google (Alta Vista I believe was a Nesbit favorite). There wouldn't be any pages up except maybe sports, news, and porn, the latter of which probably deserves its own post for childhood saga and its evolution and gradual intrusion into the every household (and bus conversation).
ReplyDeleteBut for practical uses that became widespread in the public of middle schoolers, AIM was the BIG DEAL. Although I only had four or five go-to people to talk to, having a big buddy list was really important just to know when people were on (not unlike the freakish child of instant messaging - Facebook). I also cultivated relationships and found it a thousand times easier to flirt and be "romantic" (at that age, again, this could mean a number of sad, funny things) then in real life. It's hard to say whether it was a good thing that I could keep on socializing within this little isolated world while being a mute in public a la early Matt D. But either way, there was really no way around that internet force as it is basically impossible now to avoid. Good post, Matt.
Did people really use the term "hook up" in 8th grade? I wasn't aware that phrase was around back then. I don't think I heard it before college.
ReplyDeleteMiddle school was the absolute peak of AIM. It was a really big deal then. What did my life consist of back then OTHER than AIM? The only possible answer to this is maybe the Loudoun Fury.
I remember Jake being one of the earlier people on AIM. I think I first got my account sometime in elementary, towards the end, and really my only possible friends to put on at that point were the earliest pioneers, like Jake or Aubrey Clendenin. I love the very, very early days of the Internet back then, when searching things on search engines was actually an incredible novel and amazing concept (you mean I don't have to buy books about something to read about it?!). At least it was to me.
A second peak--at least in my eyes--was freshman year of college. Fucking everyone was on then. I guess a lot of us just had nothing else to do. At some point, AIM was eclipsed by stuff like Facebook, gchat, and apparently MSN messengers or shit like that. I'm not going to lie--none of these will ever replace AIM in my heart. Also, they are just a lot more annoying to use. But such is life. I will always be an AIM baby at heart, as most who know me know. I had many a great thing happen in my life on it.