(February 28, 2007) - College of Computing Associate Professor Beki Grinter's paper "Instant Messaging in Teen Life" (Grinter and Palen, 2002) found that the popularity of IM technology was linked to increased home and school obligations, the development of independent work practices, Internet connectivity, and even access to transportation. The paper argues that while IM use is in part based on what communications media are available to them, it is also tied to peer pressure, peer group membership, and the desire to increase opportunities to "hang out."

The paper was the ninth most downloaded paper from the Association for Computing Machinery's (ACM) refereed journals and conference proceedings in December, 2006, according to the March issue of Communications of the ACM.

The paper has appeared on the list of "Top 10 Downloads from ACM’s Digital Library" each month of 2007 and was reported as the 15th most downloaded paper for the year of 2006.

ACM Digital Library subscribers can download it here:

http://portal.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=587082