Even as I’m typing this, I’m installing YahooMessenger on my computer. Why? Because I’m just back from planning the annual technology issue of the magazine I work for, and it turns out that the hot thing that these adults, ages 25 – 55, were talking about was IMing in the work environment and the generational gap that it highlights. This is a topic that we will be covering in our issue, so I figured I should get better acquainted with the Instant Messenger concept and see what the buzz is about.

I pride myself with being an early adopter, but I rejected IMing long ago when it was a crude feature on aol and I found it distracting and strangely paced. And I swear, I have not heard another word about it for at least five years. Then all of a sudden, it’s “IM this” and “IM that,” everywhere I turn.

Like me, my son Andy is an early adopter–for a fifth grader–and as such he has totally eclipsed me in his tech cultural awareness. In fact, I just changed screens to see if my YahooMessenger had fully installed. It had, and when the IM screen popped up, Andy’s line (my only IM ”friend” currently) announced that he was at his friend’s house. Of course I knew that, but I wondered, how did he know how to do that? He has a little baseball player cartoon next to his name. How did he do that?

I start digging deeper. Hmm. So many features. I can invite a group of people to a conference. I can use a Web cam. There’s a launchcast so I can play a radio station. Oh! And buy the song that’s playing. And view the lyrics. And rate it. I can be invisible to everyone, or just certain people. I can go to a chat room. Change the skin. Send an SMS message. Invite someone to play a game with me. This is total overload for a baby-boomer.

Excuse me while I pat myself on the back for trying to get up-to-date. And then go down a couple of aspirins. But after a nap (just kidding, sort of), I’m guessing I’ll get a second wind and dive back into my new life as an IMer. If you’re into it, let me know how you use it and by all means, invite me to be your new IMBFF.