Teen writes song about love of instant messaging
Thirteen-year-old singer
Brittney Cleary wanted to debut
with a song most kids her age could
relate to. So she picked a tune
about love, right? Wrong.
Her song is called "I.M. Me," a
reference to instant messaging, the
online technology that allows computer
users to carry on typewritten, private
conversations in real time. Cleary, who
lives in Nashville, Tennessee, says she
and her buddies talk online about
"everything."
"Who my friends are mad at, who I'm
mad at, about homework -- and what I
had for dinner," she jokes. They're not alone. A new survey indicates millions of
American teens use instant messaging.
After her dad, Mike, and a few others wrote the song, Cleary says she feared
people would think it was "corny." Its lyrics include references to common
terms that kids and others often type during online chats -- from BRB ("be right
back") and G2G ("got to go") to LOL ("lots of laughs" or "laughing out loud").
But already released on the Internet -- and slated to hit music stores sometime in
the next six weeks -- the song has won mostly rave reviews from youngsters
who've downloaded it.
"I think it's the bomb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" wrote one of many who've left
messages at Cleary's Web site. Another thought those who don't know how to
instant message wouldn't get it.
"I think if she sang about boyz and things, then she would interest a lot more
people," the writer suggested.
But 12-year-old Ellie Williams says an ever increasing number of kids her age
will know exactly what the "I.M. Me" song means.
Millions use instant messaging
She's probably right. A soon-to-be released study done by the Pew Internet &
American Life Project found that 17 million Americans, ages 12 to 17 -- or 73
percent of that population -- have Internet access. And nearly three-quarters of
those who are online say they use instant messaging.
By comparison, another Pew survey earlier this year found that only 44 percent
of adults have tried instant messaging.
"I guess you have a lot more to talk about when you're younger," says Williams,
a Clarksville, Maryland, resident, who sometimes has spent three hours a night
messaging her friends online.
That goes for 12-year-old Alex Bowling, too.
In fact, initial attempts to reach him at his
home in Abbottstown, Pennsylvania, were
met with busy signals because he was
online.
Bowling says he talks a lot to his best friend,
Cody.
"You know, about what we're doing and
stuff," says Bowling, who also likes the fact
that his cousin's 14-year-old girlfriends, who
don't normally give him the time of day, will
talk to him online.
David Silver, director of the Resource
Center for Cyberculture Studies at the
University of Washington, likens abbreviated
instant messaging talk to slang derived from hip-hop music.
"In some ways, it's very clever," Silver says. "Like other forms of slang, it
allows youth to talk amongst themselves without adults really understanding
what they're saying."
Consider, for example, the online term POS: "parent over shoulder."
Some parents concerned
Silver jokingly calls Cleary's song "the fall of Western civilization."
But he adds, "Actually, I'm kind of wondering why it took so long. It really does
reflect the rapid mainstreaming of cyberculture into American culture -- and
especially youth culture."
The whole youth tech trend has some worried parents buzzing about it, says Liz
Williams, who is Ellie's mom.
She says she and her husband had to cut back Ellie's online time when her
grades slipped.
"She got out of control and finally we said, 'No computer Monday through
Friday. You're done. You're out. Game's over,"' she says.
Even Cleary's dad is amazed at the amount of time his singer-daughter spends
online.
He's working on a deal to promote her song with America Online, which has
been an instant messaging leader for years, although companies such as Yahoo!
and Microsoft are quickly gaining ground. (AOL Time Warner is the parent
company of CNN.com.)
But he says even when he told Brittney he had booked a photo shoot with a
popular teen magazine, she hardly paid any mind.
"OK, that's fine dad," she said. "Can I get online?"
