A Good Rule for Online Conversations

Don’t do on social media what you wouldn’t do face-to-face

Image created by Jacquelyn Lynn using MockupShots

I confess: I indulge in gossip occasionally.

But when I find myself in a conversation where other people are being discussed, I do my best to remember the rule my mother taught me:

Never say anything ABOUT someone that you wouldn’t say TO them.

It’s a pretty good policy to live by. Remembering it has kept me out of trouble more times than I can count.

My mother died when personal computers and fax machines were in the early days of their popularity, only super-nerds knew anything about online bulletin boards and discussion groups, and Mark Zuckerberg was probably still in diapers. But if she were alive now and on social media, I think she would live by and teach this rule:

Don’t say (or write) anything to someone online that you wouldn’t say in person. And when someone says something offensive to or about you, don’t engage.

It’s just good manners and common sense.

I like to think my friends — both the ones I know in real life and the ones I know only online — are…