A few weeks ago we stumbled upon a great article by Jon Acuff for Relevant Magazineentitled “How to not be a Jerk Online.” The article begs the question of whether location or anonymity provides reason enough to lower the standards of our character.
As we grow up in life we all develop a mixture of morals, standards and habits by which we operate in our engagement and interaction with our fellow man.
For some strange reason we sometimes forget that our online engagement still requires us to operate within these personal convictions. Not to say that we are all blatantly arrogant and rude when we communicate through the internet, but I believe we could all say that we sometimes consider, if not act upon, our urges to behave in ways that we would baulk from in “Real Life.”
Rather than re-invent the proverbial wheel, I would love you to jump on over to Relevant Magazine and check outJon’s article yourselves. His opinions are only his opinions and are certainly not an exhaustive framework for developing personal communication guidelines. If you have a read of the articles comments you’ll discover readers differing views on some of the points. However, we at REACH and yesHEis believe that Jon’s observations and personal rules of “Online Etiquette” are certainly worth considering as we interact with each other online.
In a nutshell, Jon’s main points about “How Not to be a Jerk Online” are:
Don’t publicly announce you’re unfollowing someone on Twitter.
This is the equivalent of publicly insulting someone and only ends up with you looking spiteful.
Don’t argue with someone anonymously.
If you have an opinion you feel so strong about that you are willing to share it, don’t be a coward by hiding behind an anonymous account.
Don’t be someone else online.
Don’t excuse your bad behaviour with what Jon calls the “Business Traveller” mentality. That being that the rules of home don’t apply when you’re on the road.
Don’t Jesus Juke
This is a classic one. The only way to explain this is with an example: You jump on Facebook and post “So excited about the footy finals this weekend” and the one of your friends comments “It’s a shame Christians aren’t as excited about Church.” That’s a Jesus Juke and quite frankly, it’s embarrassing.
Don’t Mock People
Just don’t do it. Life and Death are in the power of the tongue and I’m going to go out on a limb and say that includes what we write.
Thanks Jon and Relevant Magazine. A great article that certainly got us thinking.
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