Of course it is less pressuring and uncomfortable to slip a few extra kind (or mean) words to another netizen when you're not facing them. The worst retaliation they could muster is a reply consisting of a cluster of text (perhaps returning the favor), or if the situation is negative, they can simply avoid responding and sign off.
The way you express yourself online is sooo much more more limited than physical confrontations.
Think about how effortless it is to type in "You are a slugabed" to someone on AIM. Think how easy it would face the response whilst sprawling on your plush armchair, sipping a soda, and listening to Pink Floyd.
Now if you said that to someone IRL, the reciever has a variety of ways to respond- they could glare, yell, shove your soda up your nose, etc.
You miss out on a lot when you have meaningful conversations via text.
I've really disappointed at how it is so easy for people of all ages to unrealistically communicate over the web. There's almost no way to shun it- at one point or another we all do it.
We get lazy socially and take the easy way out (or in).
I've said things that I shouldn't have said using the Internet. I curse more on the webs. Heck, I've confessed to a guy on AIM when I was in 6th grade. (Trust me, there are worse things being said via text nowadays. /shudder) It was absolutely idiotic, and I've come to regret it. I've learned to regret a lot of things I've said via text, and I think that's the major consequence of this whole text business- if you say something to someone over the Internet that you wouldn't say in person and stumble upon them in person, it's quite uncomfortable.
And yet I still do it sometimes. There are even individuals whom I talk to more ONLINE than IRL. Yeah, I have an excuse because I don't have as much time to hang out with living beings that are not constructed out of fine wood, but it's still a pity, and I know that back then when I had a life that happened too.
The message I'm attempting to convey, is not to stop using gmail, fb, AIM, etc, but to be smarter than the tool you are using. Use the phone if it can't wait. Maybe establish mutual feelings/opinions/etc. in person before replicating it on an email. Comtemplate on whether you'd really say whatever to whomever you're talking to- face to face. And if not, forget it.
Have some courage, guys.
Have some courage, Kat.
...And for goodness sakes don't be like Carrie:
Actions speak louder than words.
