Many would agree that stumbling upon the social media posts of your past is one of the small joys of life. Procrastinating studying by determinately scrolling down to the abysmal depths of your Instagram and finding the gritty, low-quality IPhone 3G (remember that dinosaur that changed our lives in high school?) photos of a random boy at a “party” so you would look like you hung out with boys and went to parties. Or a really unappetizing picture of a meal with no aesthetic qualities Instagram worthy. Pre-dating apps like VSCO and other editing tools, everything was Lo-fi’d and Nashville’d. Maybe X-Pro II if you were feeling bold.

Then, a few years back, an app called Timehop came into creation; I believe that it’s main purpose to act as an archaeologist of your embarrassing past and dig up the most awkward, shameful, and uncomfortable snippets of your Twitter’s past. It’s incredible how you can re-read a tweet from 2011 that quotes:

“&& I can’t help feeling that {we could have had it all}”

And you immediately flash back to that tragic Monday night in 2011 at 10:13 P.M. when tears were rolling down your face because the boy in your algebra II class who you thought like-liked you asked another girl to see the new Transformers movie. But he always favorited my tweets? Maybe it was because of my cotton-candy color themed braces while she had just gotten hers off, but I’ll never understand.

Not everyone had a Twitter or a Facebook in those early years. I am honestly jealous of my peers with strict parents who forbade them from creating profiles because it truly spared them an enormous amount of embarrassment in the long run. There is no truer statement than “what you put on the internet never goes away.” Picnicked profile pictures and emotional song lyric tweets with extraneous letters will perpetually haunt you like the ghosts of pre-teen angst. Something that my generation almost universally had access to, the most classic and original birth place for over sharing our emotions and daily activities aside from Myspace, was the AIM Away Message. Here are 5 AIM Away messages I’m sure almost all of us can relate to, and simultaneously cringe at.

1. Worst.day.evr. H8 every1. Mom took phone dnt txt.

You had an absolutely tragic day. During lunch, Katie made a bitchy comment about how everyone has the Env-3 except you. You have a pink Motorola rzr like her little sister. Fourth period, you watched Abby write a note to Josh asking if he’s going to 7th grade fun night at the YMCA even though she knows you like him. You left your headphones in your locker and didn’t have them for the bus ride home, and while you were so looking forward to a big bowl of Easy Mac in front of "Gilmore Girls" when the day from hell was finally over, your mom announces she’s taking away all electronics (including your cell) until your room is clean and doesn’t look like an Abercrombie store dressing room during a semi-annual sale. You make sure to hop on the desktop before you’re forced to be Amish for the next five hours and let everyone know not to text you anything inappropriate.

2. 4:52: Bbl at the dentisttttt. Txt it.

6:37: ~~bRaCeLeSs~~~ ;)

We start off with the classic announcement of what you’re doing although no one needs to know or really cares. You let your buddies know you’re going to be away from the computer for awhile but they should definitely txt it, because you can’t be out of contact with your people for the hour and half you’re at the dentist. Things get more interesting when you announce that you’re finally ~braceless~~~ and ready to take on high school minus a mouth full of metal. (Meanwhile I kept those suckers on until I had my driver’s license) It’s a whole new world for you out there -- can you say, new fb pro pic??

3. Anything with “4.12.09 CRG <3” at the end

Having a relationship in middle school meant carrying the burden of always having to let everyone know what was going on with you two. If you guys were getting dropped off by your parents at the movie theater that Friday, if you’ve kissed yet, if things we’re rocky and you decided you may need to cool it off for a bit. Most importantly, you needed to make it explicitly clear that you were taken, he was yours, you were his. You are probably most likely going to get married. So hence, the ending of your away message most likely included the date of when popped the question, “wanna b my gf?” Over aim and his initials. It was just part of the deal.

4. & tell ur boyfriend, if he says hes got beef--that ima vegetarian and i aint f******scared of him~~~3o3h! For lifeee

One of my go-to’s, the song lyrics. Song lyrics were the most perfect AIM away messages because through the lyrics you could subtly describe your current emotions without even having to use your own words. You could relay to your buddies if you were feeling sad, heartbroken, angry through the poetry of Taylor Swift, Coldplay, A Rocket to the Moon, Linkin Park, etc. Lyrics with curse words that sounded a little bit dirty made you feel like a badass, so when you were feeling risky this usually constituted the away message.

5. Mall wit abby. Wigssss LOLol. Auntie Annes pretzels 4 life. Lol insiders with my bestfrannn :] BBM us.

Probably the most obnoxious and most shameful when reread statuses’ of them all were the inside jokes that made absolutely zero sense to anyone else. Why did we ever think this was cute and funny? It was usually just a single phrase or a few random words that described something you and your best friend thought was sooo funny and “described you guys.” Also -- never forget the bracket smiley face, or when BBM was the old imessage.

So let’s have this be a lesson -- next time you post an Instagram, make a Facebook status, or tweet something you think is hilarious and cute, think to yourself, “will I be deeply ashamed of this in five years?” In a world where technology will only continue to advance and social media thrive, this is of utmost importance. TTYL.