Hickey - Oops! Did I Really Post That?: Online Etiquette in the New Digital Age

Oops! Did I Really Post That

Online Etiquette in the New Digital Age

by

John Patrick Hickey, CPVA, CPBA, CLC

Published by Motivational Press, Inc.

1777 Aurora Road

Melbourne, Florida, 32935

www.MotivationalPress.com

Copyright 2015 by John Patrick Hickey

All Rights Reserved

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means: graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage or retrieval system without permission, in writing, from the authors, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review, article, book, or academic paper. The authors and publisher of this book and the associated materials have used their best efforts in preparing this material. The authors and publisher make no representations or warranties with respect to accuracy, applicability, fitness or completeness of the contents of this material. They disclaim any warranties expressed or implied, merchantability, or fitness for any particular purpose. The authors and publisher shall in no event be held liable for any loss or other damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. If you have any questions or concerns, the advice of a competent professional should be sought.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Table of Contents

Dedication

This book is dedicated to the Boy Scouts of America and all those Scouts and Scouters who show the world daily that living the good life comes by living a good life. For 105 years the Boy Scouts have been teaching the principles of being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean, and reverent to our young men, and we are all better for it.

To learn more about Scouting go to: www.scouting.org

THE NEED FOR GOOD MANNERS ONLINE

Always remember that the core of good manners is not steadfast attendance to the rules of etiquette, but kindness, respect, and consideration for others. Kay West

With the rise of social media, everyone from children to senior citizens are spending more and more time online. What was once the mysterious cyber space, is now an active community. Social media has become a wonderful way to keep in close contact with friends and family that are far away (or even in the same house). In an instant you can share pictures, events, chat about your day and express your opinion on any topic you wish.

This also has cause some difficulties that must be faced. One of the casualties of social media has been the use of good manners and common sense. Because all communication is done behind the protective wall of the computer screen, people feel less a need to watch what they say and how they say it.

Good manners is a much maligned, yet desperately needed part of our culture today. The lack of civility that is constantly on display has caused great damage. However, we can change this tide and allow our online exchanges to be the catalyst.

I believe that you can develop good online manners in as little as 30 days. Many of you who are reading this already possess a desire to be your best at all time, online and off. The art of polite behavior, and it is an art, is easy to develop if you are willing to do the work. Work? Yes, work. Every good thing you hope to do in life will involve work of some kind. It takes a determined and deliberate effort to be kind and display good manners.

All success in life is found in the details. It is the little things that we do that make us special and stand out from the crowd. If you pay attention to these details, you can control what you say and do online as well as add value to all who read your posts. Dont ignore this as unimportant, it can change your life for the good or ill - it is up to you. As author and publisher, William Feather said, Beware of the person who cant be bothered by details.

Good manners consist of three things: Kindness, Respect, and Consideration for other. If you are mindful of these things you can be a person of great value to others and someone who stands out from the common crowd. As American poet, Bryant H. McGill said, Good manners are appreciated as much as bad manners are abhorred. My desire is not to make you into something you are not. I believe that we all desire good manners and to live by the Golden Rule of doing to others as we want them to do to us. Good manners is something that we may not think about a lot, but we notice when they are missing. No one like rudeness or to be treated with no respect.

Starting today you can become a person of distinction by following this outline of good manners online. Some, you will find you already practice these things and that they are just part of who you are. Others, you may have never thought about or realized that they were an issue at all. I have tried to make them as general as possible without watering them down. My goal is to help you to think about what you do and say so that your practice of good online manners will come as a natural result. Read them. Use them. Pass them on to others. If we each practice good online manners we will see the nature of social media change to a much friendlier and happier place to visit. Soon, what we do online will become a practice off line as well.

CHAPTER 1

Little Eyes are Looking

What matters isnt how a persons inner life finally puts together the alphabet and numbers of his outer life. What really matters is whether he uses the alphabet for the declaration of a war or the description of a sunrise--his numbers for the final count at Buchenwald or the specifics of a brand-new bridge. Fred (Mr.) Rogers

While visiting my daughters family, I saw our two year old grandson pick up his dads cell phone, found the game he wanted, brought it up on the screen and started playing. I was shocked. I am 65 and have trouble turning on my cell let along playing games. What this showed me was that children, young children, live in a digital age and are very savvy on how things work. Where it is exciting to know they can handle new technology early, it is also frightening when you think of what dangers there are out there.

As with all things, there are good and evil consequences to what we do. The internet has the ability to help us to learn, teach, grow and prosper in life. It also holds the weapons that can destroy, harm and imprison us. The same source that gives us knowledge, history, poetry, art and music can provide us with pornography, gambling, exploitation of children and lessons on how to make bombs. Good and evil run over the internet and it is our responsibility to sort them out.

The world was shocked and sickened when on December 14,2012, 20 years old Adam Lanza went into the Sandy Hook Elementary School and shot to death 20 children and 6 adults after killing his mother earlier that day. There have been many theories as to why this happened. No one will really know since Lanza also killed himself in the event. One thing is for sure, Adam Lanza had some deep problems and this was in no way normal nor was it excusable.

Another fact that came from the investigation was that Adam Lanza was addicted to violent video games. Have you ever seem some of the games that you can find on line. Not only do they promote violence and cruelty, but you get all the graphic pictures with it. This causes a breakdown of those human responses that cause us to avoid such thing. Emotions like shame, disgust, horror, repulsion and fear, all become hard in time to the evil they were created to keep us from. We become numb and cold to inhumanity and find killing as just a game we can all play.