Right-click, Get Buddy Info, close. Right-click, Get Buddy Info, close.

If this routine sounds familiar, it could be the sign of an obsessive-compulsive-away-message checker. Before wallowing in self-pity, stop to consider that away-message checkers are by no means alone in electronic voyeurism.

For those who are not aware of this popular habit, the away message is a part of AOL’s Instant Messenger service which allows users to customize an automatic response to messages sent to their screen names when they are away from their computers. Though the service was designed to respond to messages, in the college world, reading the away messages of fellow AIM Buddies has become a widespread social trend.

“It’s not like I’m checking their away messages to avoid talking to them,” said Cody Trobaugh, a senior in marketing. “It’s just a way to see what everybody’s doing.”

Jason Galloway, a senior in respiratory therapy, said checking away messages is often much quicker and easier than calling people on the phone.

“You can see if they’re back from class, or if they’re awake, or if they’re out,” he said.

Others agree with this concept.

“You know what people are doing without actually talking to them – which is weird,” said Britani Bishop, a senior in English and political science.

Galloway admits to checking many of the more than 100 people on his buddy list, even though he only converses with 10 percent of them on a regular basis.

“Sometimes I take study breaks and just check away messages,” he said.

For many college students, this electronic activity has turned into a constant distraction from studying. Galloway said-away message checking has prevented him from being able to study at his computer.

“AIM in general gets in the way,” said Trobaugh, who laughed when asked if away messages had ever interfered with his studies. He said the habit is always an easy way to get sidetracked.

Tyler Cook, a senior in finance, agreed that too much of his study time is wasted checking away messages.

“It’s definitely just a way to escape and see what everybody else is doing,” he said. “It makes people lazy, but it’s socially beneficial, too. You can talk to five girls at once.”

In the college world, AIM has become a prominent social link. For students, away messages have become an outlet for expressing one’s social identity which has simultaneously birthed a new way for people to be annoyed by one another.

Trobaugh said he is often annoyed by people who list every detail of their day in an away message.

“I hate that. And people who broadcast their entire lives on away messages,” he said.

Galloway said he hates poems and despises non-descriptive away messages like “chilling” and “around.”

The vastness of this trend has presented an interesting debate as to how long students will continue to participate in this electronic socializing.

Galloway believes that one should stop using instant messaging after graduating from college.

“If it starts affecting your career, you should stop,” Cook said.