What, AOL instant messenger is still a thing? Very much so, yes. You always have to give AOL props. Even though their software became somewhat obsolete (even though they STARTED the trend of online chatting), AOL instant messenger has been up and running this WHOLE TIME. Yes, even fifteen years after you stopped using it. Why, no one really knows but in the ‘Kubler-Ross’ model of grieving death, denial really IS number one for a reason.
Launched in 1997 to help connect the world through the fairly-newly formed intrawebz, AOL messenger quickly became the “IT” thing between people wanting to chat and connect online (it also kind of kickstarted some of the creepiness of the anonymity of the web but we won’t touch that right now).
Though an impressive feat when first discovered, over time platforms like Twitter and Facebook took over that aspect of the web and for ten years now, AOL instant messenger has been collecting virtual dust. So now, they pull it, ending an era and opening a floodgate of AOL memories for those who were lucky (unlucky?) enough to have made it through the interweb’s infancy.
Twitter user Adam MS best summed up the two feelings in the world about this news story right now. The young versus the old, real talk:
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is officially shutting down for good on December 15.
Old people: It’s the end of an era!
Today’s kids: pic.twitter.com/P2BRaUuOuv— Adam MS (@Muh_Sadam) October 6, 2017
Well said, sir.
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