Would you say it to their face with their mom standing there? Then maybe don’t send it.

REFLECTION

WHAT THIS MEANS

Typing removes the face you would have been watching, and that face is what usually stops you halfway through a sentence. Without it the joke gets sharper and the reply gets longer, and none of the normal brakes are working. Imagining somebody who loves that person standing there puts a brake back. It is not about being fake, it is about restoring information the screen took away.

Run the test on anything you are about to send while annoyed. If it does not survive, write the version that does, which is usually shorter. And waiting an hour costs nothing and has saved a lot of people a lot of apologizing.

A QUESTION TO SIT WITH

Would you send that message if their parent could read it?

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