[spamuell]

So now you're saying you will let her use IM provided she justifies it? OK, will you accept the justification, "I want to chat to several of my friends at once, as well as have the opportunity to converse with some of my more casual friends who I wouldn't call up but still quite enjoy speaking to"?

And for SMS messaging, will you accept, "it's just much more informal than calling people, I want to be able to communicate briefly with people at a fairly relaxed pace who I wouldn't necessarily feel close enough to phone and have a conversation with"?

I suppose that's why im/sms are so popular amongst teens, because they let us chat to more people from our own homes than we would otherwise have an excuse to.