And Away We Go - The NY Times checks back in with the AIM Youth crowd, looking at the phenomenon of away messages among college students with always-on campus network connections. Judging by my few online acquaintences still in college, I think this cohort is more apt to use away messages that demand a response. For the friends I have on my buddy list who use AIM both at work and at home, there messages tend to be more informational, letting people know you're around, but specifying why you're not available. So in both cases, I think the statement made in the article that away messages are used to "tell you where I am because I don't want to be left out of the loop" is accurate. But I think that saying "the away message becomes a litmus test for personal worth" is a bit of a stretch for most people. If you're that concerned, I suppose you could always steal someone else's provocative statement.