It is possible to automatically set your status to “away” when you haven't used your computer for a while. This lets your contacts know that you might not answer immediately.
To activate this feature, add jabber-autoaway-start to
jabber-post-connect-hook, e.g:
(add-hook 'jabber-post-connect-hook 'jabber-autoaway-start)
There are different methods to find how long you have been “idle”.
The method to use is specified by jabber-autoaway-method. The
value of this variable should be a function that returns the number of
seconds you have been idle. Three functions are provided.
If you are running Emacs 22 and thus have the current-idle-time
function, it is used by default. Note that this method only measures
the time since you last interacted with Emacs, and thus disregards
activity in other programs.
If you are using the X Window System, you can use the
xprintidle program. Make sure that jabber-xprintidle-program is
set to the correct file name. This uses the same method as XScreensaver
to find your idle time.
If you are using Emacs on a GNU/Linux terminal, the function
jabber-termatime-get-idle-time is used by default.