Digital Road Rage

You think it, you write it. You like it, you announce it. You don’t like it, you trash it. And with the worldwide web on your side, the whole world can see it.

In times where world-wide audiences are available at the press of a computer button, are we putting our minds where our mouth is?

I’m speaking of off-the-cuff posts in blogs and even regular websites all over the world, where spontaneity holds sway over sensibility.

While conventional publishing puts the responsibility of putting presumably well thought out news and views in a few hands, publishing on the worldwide web is open source. Yours to do as you please.

Quite like driving on Delhi’s roads, where rules are damned, and decency is trashed. If you don’t like the way someone drives, you show him the finger. You don’t like his reaction to your finger, show him the hospital.

Many bloggers seem to be driving the same path – armed with what I call Digital Road Rage. Surf around you, and you’ll find more rants than raves and more angst than thanks.

Get personal, get unprofessional, and even hack away at your opponent in some cases. “All’s fair in blogs at war” seems to be the mantra. With no apologies due when my karma runs over your dogma.

My two bits of advice [three actually], learnt from navigating the streets of Delhi:

> Fight the rage, nurture the raves. Whether you’re a large organization or an individual, think before you upload. What you say, is going to drive the perception of you – positive or negative.

> The world is watching, and it has the same weapons as you do, maybe with more time and more friends.

> There’s nothing sillier, or uglier than two people battling it out in public – on the road, or on the internet.

Now I’d like to end by saying “thank you for reading my Blog all you nice people. Have a nice day!”