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The Secret to Disconnecting? Bring Back the 'Away' Message (wsj.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Over the last year, gadget and software makers have developed ways for users to better manage their relationship with technology. They make it easier to ignore notifications or quiet all but the most important stuff. But even the latest mobile OS updates don't address the entire problem. In this always-on era, we are assumed to be near our phones all the time, and there is no good way to signal to the world when we are not. There is no way to proclaim, "I'm not available, I won't see your notification, and I won't care until next Sunday." The solution isn't complicated. In fact, it has been around since the '90s. It is called an "away" message, and we need it now more than ever.
Most people's first experience with an away message came on AOL Instant Messenger. Those were the days before mobile, when you could only be online while sitting at the computer -- probably a wheezing beige colossus running Windows 95. Rather than log off every time you had to run to the store, AIM allowed you to change a small icon next to your name from green, which signified you were online and available, to red, which meant you were temporarily indisposed. [...] Away messages helped users understand why their buddies weren't responding. More important, away messages offered permission to actually go away. If someone needed you urgently, they would try another route, but mostly they would leave you alone. You weren't ignoring them on purpose; you were just gone.
Most people's first experience with an away message came on AOL Instant Messenger. Those were the days before mobile, when you could only be online while sitting at the computer -- probably a wheezing beige colossus running Windows 95. Rather than log off every time you had to run to the store, AIM allowed you to change a small icon next to your name from green, which signified you were online and available, to red, which meant you were temporarily indisposed. [...] Away messages helped users understand why their buddies weren't responding. More important, away messages offered permission to actually go away. If someone needed you urgently, they would try another route, but mostly they would leave you alone. You weren't ignoring them on purpose; you were just gone.
Am I the only one that screens?
Am I the only person in the world that doesn't feel obligated to not only NOT answer every text and call as it comes in (if I'm otherwise occupied) immediately if at all?
Are that many people so hooked, that they can't put it down and leave it alone for hours at a time at least?
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
So i'm required to be logged in via Skype for Business via our Office 365 account. But, it does have a nifty "Busy" and "Do Not Disturb" setting.
My boss was like "why are you always in those modes". To which I reply, "Oh, I can multi-task, but don't fret over any mistakes I might introduce"
You can have quality or availability, but not both. If you need both, pay for more employees.
Cheaper, Better, Faster. You can only pick two.
Life is not for the lazy.
It's because I'm away or simply because I don't want to answer. (You decide)."
That was my status message on my IM clients and I never used the "away" status. For some reason it worked, because it left to the sender with the responsibility of deciding what was the actual reason for not receiving an answer. And because that simple reason no-one ever felt offended because no-one wanted to think that I do not want to answer.
I think we have a really deep cultural problem, fueled by the IM applications were there is an "expectation" of being available all the time... With the message status confirmations is even worse. Sometimes you simply cannot answer (I.E.: you check your phone in the middle of a meeting and is nothing of importance so you can answer after the meeting is finished).
We need to learn again to not to expect an immediate answer.
I agree that most modern chat clients lack the traditional "Away" message and mechanism. But you can still do things like set "Do Not DIsturb" on your iPhone or Mac (complete with the ability for selected people to punch through that anyway, if needed).
And like someone else pointed out .... simply not responding is like letting your telephone ring and not picking it up. You didn't have to have a recorded message pick up to tell them you're not available to talk. A lack of a response is sufficient.
Personally, when I'm not at work, I mute the ringer and put the phone on its charger in another room. A previous post noted just don't answer. I know people who power down their phones when they want some personal time.
If you can't stay away from the phone or it must be by you at ALL TIMES, then I think the problem is more addiction related than there being the need for the manufacturer/OS developer to come up with an "away" message.
Mimetics Inc. Twitter
The vacation message was an old tradition when I got my first Internet account in about 1986. They've been around at least since the sixties. Granted, not many people got them back then, but I'm sorry, I just can't let the idea that AOL of all people invented them pass without comment. AOL was the beginning of the end of the collegial Internet, where we respected each other and didn't spam each other, and vacation messages _worked_. AOL's vacation messages were spammy and created mail loops, which really sucked.
I guess it's kind of funny that AOL is now ancient history—at the time it was the latest new disaster. :)
We need more than just an away message feature.
We need a proactive "I do not respond to notifications, texts, or other attempts to gain my attention" message.
I am sick as fuck at the constant "Site $FOO wants to send you notifications, ?" I get on the internet these days. NO, I DO NOT WANT YOUR NOTIFICATIONS, I NEVER ASKED TO BE NOTIFIED ABOUT ANYTHING FROM YOU, I AM JUST PASSIVELY READING YOUR SITE. LEAVE ME TO READ IN PEACE.
It gets even worse when these sites detect "oh, you are using a mobile device according to your agent string! I will try some underhanded assfuckery to try to get your device to start automatically accepting notifications! Because we just KNOW YOU WILL LOVE THAT!" and start hammering my device as long as I have the browser open.
No, I want a feature that I can turn on, system wide, on all my devices that sets the default mode of "NO, DO NOT WANT, DO NOT SEND OR TRY FUCKERY TO BE ABLE TO SEND." Optionally with a password locked means to whitelist certain things.
Sadly, the powers that be in the universe seem hell bent on ensuring that every nanosecond of time is being spent being accosted by an endless and relentless torrent of "HEY HEY HEY LISTEN HEY HEY HEY!" from site operators, advertisers, and application developers, all trying to squeeze profit from the forced eyeball time.