Invisible to Everyone (part 1 of 3)

Ever wonder why instant messengers like Yahoo Messenger include the feature "Invisible to everyone" (or in Windows Live Messenger - "Appear offline")? It had to be a desired feature, otherwise programmers, who consider what "users" want, may never have conceived to add it.

Now why would anyone want to appear to not-be-there, or be invisible to people that they know? After all, is it not the whole purpose of "signing-in" to a messenger application so that you can talk to or be available to talk to your contacts. So, why bother signing in if you don't want to be seen?

Strangely enough, there are a whole lot of reasons people might do this. Of course it's not possible to know every person's reason, but some may use the "invisible" feature to avoid talking to all of their contacts, while just being able to see who is there to talk to. Hmm...sounds like torture...

Some may use the feature to avoid talking to some contacts for a particular time period, maybe a time when they might be angry with or in conflict with persons. Again, others may use this feature as a way of screening who can talk to them and know that know that they are online, while still being able to see who is actually there to talk to. It's kinda like picking your favorite chat-buddy from a classroom (or classroom of friends).

I know some of you who never even thought of this are thinking, "peculiar" right? Maybe it is peculiar, but isn't everyone? Due to the fact that, each person is unique, it only follows that different types of people act differently.

This reminds me of the lines of an old Superman television series (yes, I'm a Superman not Batman fan...props to the bat for dodging bullets though). Well anyway, it was Lois (damsel of the story) asking Clark (hero in disguise) a commonly asked question. That is, if he had the choice would he rather be "invisible or fly"?

As ironic as it was asking Superman if he'd rather be able to fly or be invisible, the answer was more ironic; he said "invisible". The question itself indicates that there are, at least, two different types of people; those who want to fly or those who prefer invisibility. Which do you prefer?