Initial thoughts on IM

My first exposure to IM was through my children.  All three have been using it for years.  My son, now a sophomore in college was the first one in the house to start using it.  I'm guessing he started about 4-5 years ago.  My second child (now 16) started IMing when she was in 8th grade.  I was definitely an over-protective parent.  I did not understand much about it and the anonymity of it was a bit frightening.  I remember many girls her age getting into trouble on it, as it seemed as though they would be much meaner through cyberspace than they would be in person or even on the phone.  My youngest, who is now in 8th grade has (of course) been using IM for a couple of years.  I noticed that my older two have moved from IM to Facebook, now my youngest wants one of those (again... of course).   Personally, I signed up for IM during the summer when we first started our program at UCONN and I really enjoy using it.  I have especially enjoyed being able to chat with a group.  I think it is a great tool for collaboration.