When you just look back

As much as I use emails everyday, I use something called Instant Messenger (hereafter IM) as well. Probably the most popular one among all (from my daily life) is the Skype (yes, it is a VoIP software, but it also has a chat feature).

So I do communicate using the chat feature. Sometimes with friends, families, etc. It could be a concrete topic, or just a chip-chat (literally). When it’s something that you could clearly see the end of the discussion / dialog, it is fine. The problem is, it is often not the case in the IM.

Because it is always-ready-to-go-while-you’re-on-the-computer system, you’re running your IM while you’re actually doing something else; working, playing a video game, etc. Consequently, you tend to become a forced multitasking person; interrupted by your friend about weekend’s schedule while doing your homework, and your friend(s) stay online for a while.

Nevertheless, you do (and should) concentrate on certain things (in not only one thing) at a time. Therefore, unless you’re consciously aware that you’re just having a chip-chat with your friend(s), you should explicitly state that the talk is over, when it is over (when there’s another thing popped up, you could simply start another conversation).

A friend of mine takes a smart way of doing this; he simply types “EOT” onto a chat message. EOT represents “End of Talk”; if you’re a software developer, it probably reminds you of the term “EOF” or “EOL”.

From this term, you (or at least I) would not perceive a negative feeling, compared to, for example, when someone says “Good-bye”. The message is clear, “the talk is over”. Nothing more, nothing less (at least from your side). It would be a statement that there’s nothing more to add to the conversation, unless someone in the chat room writes something new, which is mostly not the case, since you’re pretty much sure that what should be said is already done.

Basically, it is a small reminder that one has something else to do besides typing something in the chat room. Now I use this term rather casually, and felt I have to move onto the other things on the table.