What I loathe about the Internet

There was a time years ago when people kept their thoughts to themselves. If they thought something bad about someone, they thought it privately. At most they might have shared it with a husband or a friend, but it stopped there.

These days people can say whatever they want and unlimited numbers of people can read about it. There seem to be no consequences for bad behavior.

I'm not sure that's progress.

I enjoy reading other people's blogs. I tend to stick to the ones that talk about being a mom, homeschooling, cooking, and staying home. I enjoy reading about how other people handle struggles I face. I like to read what people think about topics in the news or issues that affect a group that I am in.

What I don't like is reading mean spirited banter from people. I don't like people who use the anonymity of the internet to misbehave or attack other people.

If you are rude or a jerk in real life, it really does come through on your blog, or your facebook, or your tweets.

I suppose the good thing about it is, you can just click away from that page or that item that is offensive.

What I'm afraid will happen eventually, though, is that all this freedom of saying whatever you think about other people, without thought of the consequences, is going to spill over in real life. I think it's already started to.

A good rule I like to follow is, if I wouldn't say it directly to the person I am talking about, I shouldn't put it on the internet.

Talking about yourself, your life, is one thing. Attacking other people or parading your prejudices on your blog is something else. Those kinds of blogs are the ones I try to avoid.

Just makes life more peaceful.