This comes down to having distinct synchronous and asynchronous communication platforms. Back in the day you has email for async and aol/msn/icq for sync. On to

This comes down to having distinct synchronous and asynchronous communication platforms. Back in the day you has email for async and aol/msn/icq for sync. On top of that they were only on your computer, and most people had desktops, you had to physically be at your computer to use them. The joy of sitting there chatting away with friends while doing homework or playing games was brilliant. On top of that, if you weren’t online in a group chat as it was happening, you missed it, there was no catching up. Text messaging sat in a middle ground, but because it cost money for each message (10p in the UK) it was self limiting. You couldn’t afford to have whole conversations via text. Bring back synchronous only messaging, and even better make it only work on a computer, not on mobile! I would love that. (I suspect the issue is so many kids now only have smartphones and tablets)