The use of instant messaging continues to skyrocket on college campuses, and Iowa State is no exception.The cheery, computerized tones of people sending and receiving instant messages echo through ISU dorm hallways. Many students can relate to the experience of having every good intention to study or go to the Rec, only to find themselves leisurely chatting the evening hours away.The biggest perk of instant messaging is that users can communicate with one anther in real time, which is like having a phone conversation by typing instead of talking. Unlike e-mail, users can reply to each other instantly.Instant messaging works by registering each user in a server, which is connected to a much larger worldwide network or server. Upon installation, the new member chooses a number or a screen name and compiles a customized “buddy list” of the numbers or screen names of friends, according to the ICQ Web site.Subscribers don’t have to be geniuses to download instant messaging programs onto their computer desktops, either. In most cases, newcomers can be chatting within minutes of registering.Best of all, it’s free.Many ISU students use instant messaging to keep in touch with family and friends.James Gries, sophomore in liberal arts and sciences, said he uses instant messaging to stay connected to people all over the country, from his family in Chicago to his friends in Alaska.”It is a good way to keep in touch and not have to pay long-distance phone bills,” he said.He said he saves about $50 each month by talking to his friends via the computer rather than calling them.Gries uses America Online Instant Messenger, which, along with ICQ, is one of the more popular brands with college students, said Steven Kunz, project manager for microcomputer network applications for Academic Information Technologies.ICQ boasts 90 million users around the world, while AIM has more than 85 million, according to their respective Web sites.Both AIM and ICQ have chat, voice, data conferencing — communicating with multiple people at one time— and file transfer capabilities, which allow users to send photos, pictures or mp3s.Newer instant messaging upgrades allow users to keep abreast of news and stock updates while chatting online, according to AIM’s Web site.”I leave [AIM] on all day long,” said Melissa Lamkin, sophomore in mechanical engineering. “Whenever I am home, I check it to see who is on, and then spend maybe an hour or two talking to them. But, I am doing other stuff during that time, too.”Lamkin said instant messaging benefits her at school because she can ask classmates about homework or arrange times to meet or study.However, Gries said although instant messenger helps him stay connected to friends, there are downsides to spending too much time online.He said he spends at least three hours a day chatting on AIM.”Since it is so accessible, I find myself spending more time talking to my friends than doing homework,” he said. Although spending excessive time online is usually a time-management concern, it can signal more serious problems.ISU Student Counseling Services has never had a student directly express Internet or instant-messaging addiction problems, but sometimes it is found under the surface of other issues, like depression or shyness, said Kelly Schilder, counselor at Student Counseling Services.”I tend to see people who are having trouble connecting with other people in their real lives and don’t feel as socially skilled,” said Schilder, graduate student in psychology. “In some cases, they don’t have many friends or a strong support network … I find that when I ask them what kind of things they do for fun, they say they talk online or e-mail.”When students reveal the Internet as their prime social outlet, Schilder said she encourages them to attempt to gradually “wean themselves off of it and try to spend time interacting with people in campus organizations and things like that.”Despite these concerns, the future of the instant messaging craze looks strong with increasing numbers of people registering every day.But technology is always changing, and instant messaging is no exception, Kunz said.”I think that as more and more people have the peripherals and the bandwidth and Internet speed continues to go up, it will change from textual exchanges to voice exchanges to video exchanges,” he said. “Instant messaging is just one point on the information exchange curve.”