It seems as though some people who have been reading this column for some time now don't understand this is an opinion column. This means I occasionally attempt to be humorous in the hopes of blatantly pointing out the various inconsistencies present in society through the use of sarcastic commentary.

Unfortunately, editorial decisions sometimes change my words to state something in an unintended way. Take last week's column for instance, "Women must bridge 'computer geek' gender gap." It led some to believe (myself included) the column made guy geeks out to be helpless "dweebs" and females to appear as objects rather than the truly talented and unique individuals that all of us know they are. In a way, that leads me to this week's column.

Does it ever seem that AOL Instant Messenger is the bane of college existence? Ever since I lost my computer to a motherboard chipset flaw, I've noticed that I have much more free time than normal. It's entirely possible that instant messaging, although useful for many purposes, distracted me to the point of not getting much work done.

In addition, the various advertising banners employed by AOL in futile attempts to get me to purchase stuff are now using up my precious limited bandwidth! Nevertheless, I'm a big fan of instant messaging and use it quite often. AIM is a wonderful application employed by millions of users to communicate over distance at minimal cost. It also allows you to talk to multiple people at once; something doable via phone conversation, but employed most notably in person.

Some people, however, seem to prefer sending bits of data over a copper wire rather than communicating in person.

Even many professors choose "death by PowerPoint" over a meaningful and interactive class discussion. It's discouraging to know that AIM, e-mail, and incidentally, online hate forums (one of which I am now the proud owner; thank you psu.dailyjolt.com for providing the bandwidth, disk space and services) sometimes serve as the undisputed preference for social interaction.

I know people who remain in their rooms all day, typing away rather than enjoying the amenities of the White Building or a conversation in a friend's room.

Even people-bashing is becoming rather impersonal due to technology. That last column I wrote made it all the way to Drexel University in Philadelphia and to Rochester Institute of Technology, where people who don't even know me unleashed on their newfound target. People here at Penn State most graciously set up that public bashing forum on the Daily Jolt, too.

The things that people are driven to say under the apparent "shroud of anonymity" provided by the Internet are shocking. My current favorite is "After 20 gallons of clearasil (sic) and visiting a decent hairsylist (sic)... he may be able to get something resembling a female." Now, my question to you is if you would say that to my face. My guess would be no. It's not as easy being mean in person.

This leads me to another question. Will technology lead to the downfall of society? Hopefully not, since just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do something.

But data suggests otherwise. Think of all the advancements in technology (not restricted to just computers) that have ultimately gone wrong -- for instance, cancer-causing chemicals, polluting petroleum products and mercury-containing batteries.

Now, think of how computers are driving us all nuts. Many of you have experienced component breakdowns or the frustration of catching a computer virus. People are still out there creating viruses and otherwise trying to cause malicious damage. It makes me wonder if I want to actively contribute to this downfall or switch majors.