As I'm sure is the case for most people here, instant messaging has greatly impacted the way I communicate with family and friends online.  Nearly every time I'm online, I have AIM up in a window, and I talk to people.  Normally they're pretty informal discussions, with icons, abbreviations, and incomplete sentences being common, I still put some thought into the things that I post.  I also have Yahoo Messenger, and though I use it less often, it was still instrumental over winter break for allowing me to talk to my girlfriend for cheap over the phone while she was on vacation in Israel.

(Note: This is a totally random picture of AIM I found on Google images that has absolutely no relation to my screen name or the screen names of anyone I talk to.)

The next step up from instant messaging would be message boards, like the adultswim.com forums, and although conversations there are still fairly informal, I still tend to put a little more thought into my posts than I would if I was just writing an instant message.  It may be because things posted there are more permanent.  That is, it will be seen by more people.  People still use icons and abbreviations, but I personally try to keep them to a minimum.

Facebook is another communications tool worth mentioning, although I don't usually actually do much writing in there myself.  I do, however, occasionally write on people's walls and send private messages.

Even video games can be communication tools these days.  Recently, I exchanged friend codes with a friend of mine from back home, and I can send and recieve messages on my Wii now.  Of course, the primary purpose of the system is to play games, and the friend codes will eventually be implemented into games too, but it's still a fun feature.

Now that I'm living away from home, it's more important than ever for me to have multiple lines of communication between me and my family and friends.  Thanks to the internet, I have many options now beyond simply using the phone.