Spoonful of Positive: Anger (how we deal with it online)

We all deal with our own anger. We all cope with others' anger. My opinion only, anger is as natural to us as love, hate, happiness, fear and happiness.

How we deal with our own anger is up to us. Our reaction to others' anger is also ours to decide.

We live in what I call a "knee jerk society." Our defenses kick in, words spew out of our mouth.

In the "old days" we had the same natrual instincts, we had the same reacctions as we do now. The difference was, we didn't always have access to the people we were angry with, yes we had the telephone at home. We didn't have phones we could use at anytime, even if we were at home or could find a pay phone, people were not always close to their phone. We didn't feel obligated to answer the phone even if we were home.

Eventually we did have answering machines, where we could leave an angry message. But most of the time a person would not want to do that ...

We didn't have email to just hit send. We had to write a letter. Now, to do that we had to have pen or pencil and paper, take the time to write a letter. and then to find an envelope. After all that, we had to have a stamp to mail it and actually walk it out to the mailbox.

By the time you came to the last step, your anger level went down, you were able to think more clearly and most of the time, the letter was never sent.

So, we really weren't different by then, we just had technological limits.

Now, we also have social media where we are able to spew out anger with just the strokes of our keyboard. There seems to be no limit for our ability to do this, and there is a group mentality that prevails online.

There are no rules, not like the real world. No holding back, as we try to do in the real world. No "manners." And now, the online world has overflowed into the real world.

We need to think before we speak, think before we react.

If we could just take time to think before we have that "knee jerk reaction" most likely we won't hit that send, or post our comment.

It's up to us to change our actions and reactions.

It's up to us to decide whether we spew our anger online, in a text or a message.

After all, is this what technology is to be used for.... hopefully we use it for a positive message.

"Speak when you are angry and you will make the best speech you will always regret." -- Unknown