attention: from now on, my gchat status will always be green-dot available. i’ve come to realize that every time i say i’m away when i’m actually sitting at my computer, i am living a lie. let’s be honest: the only times i’m actually away are when my gchat is off completely or when i’m idle (orange dot). i’m not fooling anyone, and it certainly doesn’t stop people from messaging me.

the whole away status thing is a vestige from our AOL/AIM past anyway. remember when they wouldn’t let you have a custom status if you weren’t AFK? remember when they were called “AWAY” messages, but we all used them instead to indulge our narcissism with cute zeitgeisty witticisms? you totally weren’t cool if you ever put up “sleeping” in your message. no one cares what you’re doing. they want to know how you feel or in what clever way you’re doing it.

but now we have facebook and have google telling us it’s ok to tell people what we’re thinking, even when we’re around. thank you, google, for legitimizing our overblown sense of self-importance. thank you.

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