Internet Messages are Forever: I Might Need a Time Out

Recently, I was having a conversation with one of my friends about the Internet awareness that teens need to have as they post information on their personal sites; the messages they post today may still be available to employers, constituents, potential fiances, in-laws and other VIPs from their futures ... people who they want to impress. Well, maybe rather than sharing my great advice with others, I should have followed it instead?

Yup, I made an error. After Sarah Palin was nominated to Vice President, I first enjoyed all of the back & forth about whether or not she, a mom, should have accepted the job. But, as the conversations seemed to continue to be mostly "us against them" comments as opposed to sharing different perspectives and wisdom with each other, I got irritated.

So, I wrote a note to a news person who I thought was contributing to the deterioration of the national conversation. That's OK, but the tone of my note had a swagger of arrogance and condescension (yuck!). I need to take a "time out" and do some reflecting on what I could have done better. If I followed my own advice in this area, I would have maintained a more graceful sense of humility as I participated in an engaging & lively debate.

This all came back to me today because I found out that the blog I used for this correspondence is available in on-line searches. Eek! I thought that I was just writing a private note to the news person - I did not know that the note would be so accessible, so public. How could I not know? Things we post on the Internet last ... just as our words we share with each other in our homes last. Next time, I'll choose my words and my tone more carefully.

How many minutes is a "time out" supposed to be if you're in your 40s?