My parents signed us up for AOL's first dial-up service when I was twelve. Since then, I've managed to hold onto my first screen name (a reference to my then-favorite band which is too embarrassing to share here), even though I don't use it. In college, my friends and I laughed over our screen names, chosen as adolescents but too close to our hearts to give up. I eventually switched to a Read more

A friend of mine IM'd me the following: "You have got to be kidding me. My mother just emailed me the following message: Hi honey, I'm going to call you later. Love, Mom" I've written about my family's technical blunders before, from a niece who learned the Wii as fast as my sometimes tech-unsavvy Grandma. And my friend's experience is no different. My mother has definitely sent me short Read more

Although iChat allows me to video conference with up to three people at the same time, sometimes I just want to have an iChat party with more of my friends or family. Same goes for those who work from home and need to video with other co-workers in a conference. And with SuperIM, you can now video chat with up to 10 people. Amazing! All it takes is a free account with Paltalk and a quick Read more

Electronic communication can both help and hurt a relationship. On one hand, it encourages constant communication and may make you feel closer to one another. On the other — this constant communication may make you feel suffocated. This happened recently to one of my friends. She started seeing a new guy, and intentionally only gave him her phone number — no email address, no Twitter handle, Read more

I'll admit it: technology has made the early stages of dating a lot easier. For instance, you no longer have to work up the nerve to call a guy you're into — just fire off a witty text message or IM and avoid awkward pauses on the phone altogether! It's a lot easier to type out something you might have trouble expressing in a face-to-face situation. (Exhibit A: Texts From Last Night. Do you Read more

The men of Swingers championed a rule that fundamentally changed how fellas of the '90s plotted post-date communication. They said a man should wait three days after a date to call a woman so she would want them more. Preposterous, right? Today the possibilities for contact are so varied — email, work email, IM, gChat, Facebook, Twitter, text and so on — that it can be harder to gauge Read more