SMetiquette Lessons

SMetiquette Lessons

This article comes at a great time in my post writing. Just as I have been focused on communication breakdown, whether at work or in one’s personal life, people have lost all sense of what is appropriate in how to share information. Manners and etiquette have gone out the door as it is much easier to hide behind a screen…of any shape and size. It seems that no one needs to be held accountable for their “bad” behavior.

How many times have you received responses to emails that are all of three words or that include umpteen exclamation points and capital letters in places where there shouldn’t be any? Either people have become so lazy that they cannot be bothered to correct their errors or their true personality comes through. Lucky for us, because of the speed of technology, we can size someone up quite quickly and decide how much they are worth investing in.

Of course there is always the possibility that there are those who prefer speaking on the phone than using the various forms of digital communications. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. As a matter of fact, one of my favorite people tends to respond to emails in 3 words however this is because the personal approach of the phone/meeting is preferred.

I have also, however, experienced the complete opposite…someone who used numerous exclamation marks in every single email for no reason…well, his English wasn’t brilliant but he may have just been a very frustrated person at all times. In a way, it was probably a good thing he could hide behind a screen as all his employees hated having to hear their name yelled out and then get stuck sitting in his office just to listen to him talk about nothing…

When all said and done, don’t judge someone until you really know them and knowing them is not through digital communications!

Alas, I digress.

The article I am referring to in this post is about etiquette but taking it one step further…communicating through social media. The points made are very similar to any etiquette in life but again, people just let their hair down (assuming they have hair) when it comes to on-screen communication.

Seriously…this is no different. Impressions can be made even faster today so it takes even more time and awareness to approach things properly. Even if the speed of technology is approaching the speed of light, the human brain still needs time to think about how to address, engage and share.

Read about the 12 Most Must Learn SMetiquette Lessons here.