Tina Lowry was in her freshman year dorm room in 2001 when her computer dinged: an instant message from HLstyles3.
The communication sent over AOL Instant Messenger was from a guy she’d met at a party the week prior. The two kept talking over AIM, sometimes for hours on end, and the relationship flourished from there.
His real name was Harrison Lowry. The two dated for nearly 10 years, and were married in 2012. Now Tina’s more than eight months pregnant with their first child — due Dec. 23.
“AOL Instant Messenger was a pinnacle of how we communicated before we had texting or anybody had a cellphone,” said Tina Lowry, a 34-year-old Glen Mills native who now lives in Virginia Beach, Va. “It’s how we started our relationship, solely through IM.”
AOL, which is now called Oath, is pulling the plug Friday on AIM, its flagship chat platform that served as the first foray for a generation into what would eventually become social media. Launched in 1997, AIM was the fast-paced communication method of choice before Myspace, Facebook, Twitter or even texting gained popularity. Its use died down in the mid-2000s, but AIM’s final days have brought out the nostalgic tales, ranging from teenage flirting to humiliating “away messages” to even somber reflections on 9/11.
Like the Lowrys, Pat Woods owes his marriage to AIM. After finishing college at Temple University in 2005, he logged onto AOL one day from his father’s Upper Darby home to check his old email account. An IM popped up from “lizbear430,” a woman he knew from his high school days, but with whom he’d lost contact. She asked him to go bowling.
