"Bringing the Gun to a Knife Fight" - Electronic Communication and Politeness

"Bringing the Gun to a Knife Fight"  - Electronic Communication and Politeness

We are in an age of great innovation and bounding evolution of societal vulgarity. Yes, that may be a debatable point, but we’ve all likely had some discussions about how mobile devices have created a whole new world of less-than-desirable social niceties. Need we mention the tens of thousands of zit-popping Youtube videos? Shall we harken the sloppiness of spelling and grammar our texting troupes have degenerated their writing into? Would we even want to mention the fact that many good folks out there are now choosing to direct their romantic energies into “Camgirls” in some far-off country rather than their soul mate sitting in the room next to them?

In Carrie James book, Disconnected: youth, new media and the ethics gap she takes aim at such topics, pointing to those most affected, the youth. She refers to the lack of couth as a kind of “ethical and moral blindness”. That just because there is a screen to hide behind, and because it is “only words” and “only jokes” everything from lewd jokes and images, to violent death threats are pinged out to the world on whims. What may have had a student expelled or blacklisted for life, 20 years ago, is now commonplace. The issues are further compounded when those who are supposed to be role models for teens are, they themselves, perpetuating the same behaviors.

The new digital universe we have entered is what some call the largest societal experiment. Who’s to say that we shouldn’t marry an avatar or type essays using emojis? Regardless of this, I think that most of us can agree that it is not a free-for-all. As is reflected in online user policies from universities to free wifi zones at cafes, we do have to live up to some sort of conventions that both protect and respect each other. Words, images, and online behavior do matter and do have real consequences. One only has to mention the Rehtaeh Parsons story to see this – a case where a social media posting resulted in the worst possible outcome.

So, what are a few small things we can to be better model citizens in the digital world?

It might be a bot, but it probably is another person

From an article in Forbes magazine about professionalism in emails, they mentioned something I took to be very important. We should always take a deep breath and remember that the person we are communicating with is another person. They are living human beings who probably have good families and want to do good in the world. Responding with disrespectful, hurtful, or insulting language should be avoided. I think a good rule here would be, if you wouldn’t tell this to the person’s face, then don’t do it online.

Reduce or get rid of abbreviations

Texting, emails, and comments tend to be full of abbreviations these days. They are very much faster, are part of the modern lingo, and are etymologically developing their own meanings. For example, LOL is now said to have dozens of different meanings and nuances. That aside, if we want to truly show we care about the person at the other end and that we have a larger lexical resource than three letter acronyms, we should strive to apply more concrete language.

Turn off the predictive text

Everyone knows that the content delivered to us in our news feeds and Amazon searches is manipulated by third parties. This is information we are taking in – receptive information. What many people don’t think about is that we are also being manipulated by the productive information we deliver through our devices. Software and corporatization is programming the information we are taking in and sending out. Specifically, predictive texting is being manipulated. By feeding you options on what to say, software companies can also manipulate your message. Information from a friend, peer, or business contact is much more trusted and used than would be information on a pop-up ad. Not only that, but predictive text reduces our need to search for the right words neurologically, reduces the need for us to spell correctly, and reduces our attentiveness to accuracy. Just think of how much more authentic and purer your texts will be if you turn it off. It’s one small thing you can do to keep your messaging and your mind sharper.