Here are 8 rules for handling digital communication in a healthy way:
- Don’t send any emails, texts, tweets, or updates when you are hungry, angry, lonely tired, or bored.
- Match the level of emotion with the visibility of the message.
- Be careful with people who are one way a screen and another when they are face-to-face with you.
- Be aware of your public image: don’t make your digital presence all about you.
- Remember: no one is obligated to respond to your tweet, picture, or update. Don’t expect others are waiting with phone in hand to immediately respond to you.
- Don’t interrupt a conversation because you need to check your phone. That tells others they are not as important to you as your phone.
- Email is for business; tweets, pictures, and updates are for short, to-the-point communication; everything else deserves a phone call.
- Remember that you really can live without your phone, computer, or tablet; life won’t end if you take a break from devices every now and then.