Typing it doesn’t make it weightless. Words online hit real people.

Distance makes cruelty feel weightless. With no face in front of you there is no flinch and no pause, none of the small signals that would normally stop a sentence halfway, so things get sent that would never survive a room. The person at the other end still reads it in their own bed at one in the morning. The medium is light and the effect is not.

Before sending something sharp, picture saying it with the person standing in front of you. If you would not, leave it unsent. If you already sent it, put the apology where the message went.