Being Nice on the Net

CEBU, Philippines – The baby boomers may have conquered outer space but our generation has more than just conquered cyberspace. We’ve inhabited it—heck, we’ve thrived in it. Most of us even spend much of our waking hours just staring straight at our computer screens, pounding on the keyboards, living our cyber lives with such passion, that we become completely oblivious to what’s going on in the real world around us.

If you ask me, I’d have to say the internet has been the greatest invention to date, considering that it allows us to meet up and connect with people who are otherwise impossible to catch. It even allows us to catch a glimpse of places that we’d never be able to set foot on—and on real time at that. With the proliferation of social networking sites that enable us to rub shoulders with a jillion folks from wherever, it’s no wonder so many of us just find it hard to unplug.

In as much as the net is within our disposal—and you probably already think that after spending quality time with your PC since the Jurassic Period, you’re already a whiz at the net—there are a few things that all of us cybernauts have to keep in mind as we ride the cyber waves.   They may call it “etiquette” in the real world, when we talk about how we should properly behave in various instances.   Virginia Shea, in her book “Netiquette” calls proper decorum in cyberspace just that—netiquette or net etiquette.

Think before you type. The amazing thing about the net is that it gives us a unique sense of freedom to say whatever we wish to say, without having the least bit of hesitation. Although we may be chatting with our friends, sending messages to anyone, we’re really only doing so in front of the computer screen. The downside to this is that our words can be easily misunderstood since we’ll only have the aid of capitalization and emoticons to help us make our point. No gestures, no tones, only a few commas and ellipses here and there. It’s not uncommon for real-life personal feuds to ensue just because of a little misunderstanding over a chat session. Before you type away a nasty comment and hit Enter, think what if you’ll actually say that in the flesh. If you won’t, forget it. Remember that in reality, you’re not talking to the machine. You are talking to a real person.

Same rules apply. “In real life, most people are fairly law-abiding, either by disposition or because we’re afraid of getting caught. In cyberspace, the chances of getting caught sometimes seem slim. And, perhaps because people sometimes forget that there’s a human being on the other side of the computer, some people think that a lower standard of ethics or personal behavior is acceptable in cyberspace,” Shea said. She added that although some rules may differ in some areas in cyberspace, these standards of behavior are not necessarily lower in real life. So if stealing and being obscene are huge no-nos in real life, ditto for cyberspace.

“Lurk before you leap.” Domains in cyberspace are like countries and provinces in the real world. They have different standards of behavior. Shea strongly suggests that before you start immersing yourself in a domain you are perfectly new to, it’s best that you get a feel of the domain’s culture before weaving your way in the discussion thread.

Think of the T word. Opening emails, threads, and downloading files in the internet can take—and waste — an awful lot of time. Because the internet allows us to quickly send a jillion useless invites to our entire friend list, we may be prone to thoughtlessly click away (Yep, I’ve received enough EGO Love Lounge invites to last me a lifetime). Make each post or email count—that is, worth the time reading because instead of spending how many minutes reading the post only to realize it’s some crazy chain letter that says you’re gonna die if you don’t forward it to 100 friends, the reader might as well be spending those precious minutes with the family—in the flesh.

Keep it clean. Swearing and cuss words may be proliferating in the net but take it from Shea that swearing in the net (as in real life) is acceptable “Only in those areas where sewage is considered an art form. Not only will peppering your post with swear words make you sound like a savage, it’ll make you look bad among other netizens, as well. People won’t necessarily be able to see you on the net so what you write is the best representation of yourself, said Shea. Keep your posts short, clean, and sensible, so you won’t go on offending the rest of cyberspace.