Why We Spend Hours on MSN Chatting

As they watch impatiently as their children are overwhelmed by a flood of instant messages and respond to each one of them with a slight smile on their face, parents wonder, "Why the hell can't they just talk on the phone?" Well, that's when the psychology kicks in; adolescent minds work very differently from those of adults. Here's the chatting phenomenon explained:

6. People feel under pressure to say something constantly on the phone but can do other things on the computer

The fact is that people don't feel uncomfortable not saying anything for half an hour while in a chat because they know that their fellow chatter is aware that they are doing something else. On the other hand, not saying something for more than five seconds counts as an awkward silence and with the number of awkward things these days, who needs another.

5. We're usually on the computer anyway

Hey, it's true. This generation is starting to use the computer more and more as it becomes more and more "useful". So I guess we're just getting so lazy that we can't walk a few steps to pick up a phone; instead, we just want to sit in our chairs, typing and staring, typing and staring.

4. People feel more comfortable expressing themselves with IMs than with long speeches

Maybe long speeches were trendy back in the 80s but they definitely aren't now. Plus, some feel like they're revealing more when they're talking face to face or even just on the phone but they feel more secure hiding behind their trusty e-wall.

3. Most are more fluent in writing than talking

When you speak, you can pause for a minute thinking of how to word something; you just have to go ahead and unless you're a really good talker, you'll get mixed up with what you're trying to say. On the other hand, on the computer, you can take your own sweet time thinking of something to say and then how to say it.

2. You can mask your true personality and reactions with simple cyber-surgery

Thoughts can quickly be translated to speech so a conversation can quickly turn sour if you can't hide your emotions. However, in a chat, you don't see thoughts or hear words, you watch letters slowly appear on the screen. And who says these letters have to be truly showing what you think; in fact, you can be a whole different person online.

1. Because everyone else does

What's popular is what's popular and people can't resist following the trends. Almost everone has an Windows Messenger account and if you don't, you're pretty much seen as an outsider. To add to that, if you're not on every hour of every day, you're seen as an outsider too.

Why You Don't Need Cuil Search

With a greatly (over)hyped launch, Cuil has hit the world of search engines and is trying to gain market share quickly. One problem; there are hundreds, if not thousands of them already. So basically, what I'm saying is you don't need another search engine: In other words, you don't need Cuil.
To begin with, you obviously can use other renowned and more effective search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN Live Search.
Each of these websites are much more convenient with several additional search features such as images, video, maps and more (Yahoo! leading the way with pages for music, food and travel).
Also, naturally with the many more pages indexed in Cuil's database, you would get more search results. However, most people aren't going to search engines to look for a lot of things, but a few, relevant items. This is one quality Cuil just doesn't possess enough of. In fact, there is not even as much as a small advanced search tool to help narrow down your results.
Moreover, hand in hand with the thumbnails beside some results, are numerous inappropriate images that really make you question the capability of the Safesearch option.
And of course, how can you forget this little trait that major search engines all have. Simplicity. Cuil's search result page is intensely cluttered, making it hard to appreciate the web content. Here's a cold, hard number; 3. 3 columns doesn't cut it when you want speedy reading.
So although Cuil does have some good potential and considerable aesthetic appeal, it's not something that you want to waste your time on right now.

10 Reasons Why MSN Chat Sucks

Most people I know would never even think of uninstalling their favorite little program, MSN. Well, here are a few reasons you should do so, before your life is ruined.

10. You can't take back things you say.

People might take a comment badly or you may say something that would offend someone. Of course, if you do something to embarass yourself, the news can spread like a wildfire because of the Internet.

9. It's an easy pathway cyber-bullying.

MSN encourages cyber-bullying with its interface and soon, you may be the victim of a vicious attack.

8. If you decide you want to chat with a robot, there's tons of advertisements.

This application has to be one of the most popular out there; every company wants to get their hands on one of these advertisements and some of them lead to surprisingly obscene sites.

7. Alerts.

You know those little pop-up boxes at the side of your monitor whenever something happens. That gets to be pretty annoying. Although you can stop them, this still comes as a huge downside and even frustrates people to the point where they just want to smash their computer.

6. You become dependant on MSN for all of your contact and scheduling needs.

This may seem petty but one day, it might come and bite you in the butt. If anything happens to your precious little MSN, you're dead.

5. Obligation to talk.

Here's a big one. When one of your friends is on and starts chatting with you, you can't just abandon them and sign out. That really sucks when you have a big assignment due at school the next day.

4. From the people that I ask, I see how addictive MSN really is.

Like a force of nature, MSN begins to ruin lives, dominating everything. It will terrorize you and your future but you can stop the madness. So if you or a loved one is in trouble, call MSN Users Anonymous. Fully confidential and very helpful.

3. It might be subtle, but MSN is very unhealthy.

First of all, sitting there all day "chatting" isn't exactly the best thing you can do to your body. And of course, think about your eyes; don't they deserve a bit better than to be sentenced to hours of the computer screen?

2. MSN takes up a lot of time. Really. A lot.

When you get obsessed, you can spend days of valuable time just trying to fill lines or expressing your emotions with little colored circles. Think about what you can be doing with this time. Just right now I came up with, "write a book, watch TV, make a magazine, invent something and of course, change the world." I guess Barack Obama can't spend his time on MSN.

1. You don't have a real social life.

If you haven't gone insane yet, you'll probably recognize how lame nattering on MSN is. I seriously don't think this is "cool" or really makes you socialable. This is just an excuse for computer nerds, really.