"I actually think it replaces a need in our culture. A need where before children had unorganized play. And I think Instant Messenger explodes among teenagers today because it allows them that space for unorganized play."
Microsoft anthropologists visited 40 families over the course of a year to study their use of instant messaging... and used the data to develop new features for the service. A fifth of online teens say instant messaging is the main way they deal with friends. Is that healthy?
"I think that the most important thing is that our culture isn't allowing as much face to face communication. Students, they get bused to different places so their social face to face time is often the bus ride home."
One of the valuable new messenger features Microsoft has added is the ability to save IM conversations.