My first-ever AIM screen name was starr*author30, because I had fervent writing aspirations, wanted to be a star (starauthor30 was taken) and had little-to-no social awareness in the 6th grade.
Still, like many ’90s kids, AIM holds a heavy dose of nostalgia and comfort for me to accompany the humiliation. It’s where I could channel my pre-teen angst with away messages like “pArEnTs R tHe WORST txt me” written in neon pink Comic Sans. It’s where I could ask the popular boy in Mrs. B’s class what the homework was, even though I had already completed it days ago. It was our generation’s first venture into the social possibilities of the Internet.
AOL’s instant messenger service has finally been given a time of death. AOL’s parent company Oath announced on the AIM Memories Tumblr page yesterday (October 6) that AIM will be shutting down by the year’s end.
“If you were a 90s kid, chances are there was a point in time when AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) was a huge part of your life,” VP of Communications Product at Oath Michael Albers wrote in a post entitled “One Last Away Message.”
The news has been met with horror, not because any of us have used AIM in the past decade, but because shutting it down feels akin to gathering the world’s remaining Furbies, inflatable furniture, and Dunkaroos and burying them deep in the ground for future archeologists to discover and be deeply confused by.
We are a generation of ’90s nostalgia, and people are taking to Twitter in droves to reminisce on the death of their childhood the messaging tool.
~*~*dOn't CRy bECausE iT's over, SMiLe bEcaUSe it haPpeNEd*~*~
RIP, AIM. You were the best.https://t.co/94dr74gSv4 pic.twitter.com/SnewaB2reT
— Nate (@BarstoolNate) October 6, 2017
RIP AIM. honor this somber day by opening a door and shutting it and opening it again and shutting it till your crush pays attention to you
— julia reinstein 🚡 (@juliareinstein) October 6, 2017
Twitter was inspired, to a degree, by the, "away message" in AIM. #RIPAIM
— Biz Stone (@biz) October 6, 2017
"Do you have AIM?"
"Yeah"
"What's your screen name?"
"Oh I'm never on it"This is how you knew she didn't like you. 🙁
— Greg (@gwiss) October 6, 2017
AIM shouldn't say goodbye. It should say "brb" and put up a vaguely depressed away message.
— Louis Virtel (@louisvirtel) October 6, 2017
Finally, the AIM man can stop running.
— Ben Schwartz (@rejectedjokes) October 6, 2017
My official statement on the death of AIM: pic.twitter.com/v5XHsKljjN
— Kat Timpf (@KatTimpf) October 6, 2017
*~*sAy It AiN’t So My LoVe Is A lIfE-tAkEr~*~
And, one last time: l8r g8r. xoxoxoxoxox. LYLAS.
