6 Awkwardly Relatable Memories from AIM
October 09, 2017
Where were you the day that AIM shut down? The official end date is December 15, 2017, but they announced the end in October 2017. I was sitting at my desk, at my adult job, already feeling the feels of my youth that is slipping away. (I LOVE my job - don't get me wrong.) There's just something weird about achieving that "thing" you've been getting prepared for since birth, essentially, amirite?
I was in my "feels", as the kids would say, because there was a national conference for the organization that I poured my heart and soul into during my undergrad - PRSSA - that day in Boston, and it was my first year not attending as a student. Then, this tweet came on my timeline and the falling rocks of my feels avalanched:
All good things come to an end. On Dec 15, we'll bid farewell to AIM. Thank you to all our users! #AIMemories https://t.co/b6cjR2tSuU pic.twitter.com/V09Fl7EPMx— AIM (@aim) October 6, 2017
Did they really have to say "all good things come to an end" Right in front of my salad? More like right in front of the tears I cry while my youth slowly slips away from me, under the ballet flats I traded in my high-top Vans for?
To end the era, they are running a "AIM Memories" campaign. In their recent blog post, they encapsulated the exact experiences we can relate to when it comes to the era in which the way we communicated with our friends changed. AIM was the original group chat. What would 13-year-old you say if you told them you could have group Snapchats now? I would say, "You know I can't snap, stop making fun of me!"
However, the next cultural shift may be upon us soon - and AOL may be behind it! In their blog post, they left this cryptic message:
"We are more excited than ever to continue building the next generation of iconic brands and life-changing products for users around the world."
Take that as you may, but I'll be waiting around for the next thing from AOL now. To commemorate this loss, I'll be reminiscing my cringiest moment from that era. I'll be reliving the phenomenon that happens when you combine new technology and raging hormones. Please join me in the comments, by leaving your fondest and most awkward AIM memories!
1. Making up a fake boyfriend
Okay, bear with me here. Everyone had a date for their significant other in their profile. I was a hopeless, ugly teenager. I did what I had to do - just so I could have a date in my profile like everyone else.
2. Getting rejected by my crush
I messaged me crush in AIM (after finally working up the courage),only for him to tell me to to never, ever do it again the next day in religion class.
3. Getting banned from chatrooms constantly
Those chatrooms have tricky rules. They didn't let your username include your school name, or "bubble butt", unfair right? My mom would spend her nights in the phone with AOL, trying to redeem my account and her faith in me.
4. Secret Spammers
Friday nights were time for AIM. Before we grew to be awkward teenagers at the mall, we were middle schoolers on AIM. There was a group of the kids in may grade who would enter a group chat, immediately spam, then get kicked out by AOL for spamming. Not only was this annoying, but it also broke up the conversation. What if I was just in the middle of getting the hot middle school goss?
5. Is this a...?
Myself and two others of my classmates were usually the only two online at the wee hours of 11PM - I know, so late. Part of it was FOMO for me, and part of the was being in love with the male classmates who stayed. The complicated part was that the girl classmate, and friend of mine (who still is my friend, you know who you are!), was also in love with him - even more than me. Looking back, I don't blame this boy for staying awake and chatting with these two girls who were fawning over him.
6. Is 5 screen names over doing it?
Yes, five. I had three screen names: NTV823, iCKYNiKKi823, AEROGURL87, TrackxTragedy and ShakexxIt87. Granted, not all of them were active at once. There as absolutely no point in having multiple screen names. Why did we do this? I only confused people.
7. The colorful jacket gang
You best believe I brought my middle school's politics online. I've been stirring the pot on the internet since I popped out of the womb, starting with trolling Lizzie McGuire's outfits on the Disney Channel website. Also, please do NOT start with me about how I no longer recognize the shows on there. There's a Tangled series? Anywho, the girls who claimed themselves to be popular all happened to have the same color North Face and South Pole jackets - black - so they called themselves the "black jacket gang". Being the voice for the bourgeoisie since middle school, I took a stance on this unjust monopoly. In rainbow letters, I put "COLORFUL JACKET GANG" in my AIM profile. THAT THAT POPULAR GIRLS!
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