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Writing Online is Easy. Making an Impact With It is Hard.
In a world where everyone has a microphone, how can your ideas reach people and change the world?
Aaron Sorkin said, “I am all for everyone having a voice; I just don’t think everyone has earned the microphone. And that’s what the Internet has done.”
That reminds of what our moms tell us when we’re young. “If you don’t have something good to say, don’t say anything at all.”
Not many children heed that advice. They say whatever comes to mind, whenever it does. Good parents monitor our words and help us see what is appropriate and when — and what we should avoid.
The internet has given us a place to say whatever we want, whenever we want. And we can put on masks and pretend to be someone we’re not. Distancing ourselves from our mistakes may be as easy as deleting our account. It’s like it never happened!
Of course, the severity of a mistake depends on what you say and how popular you are. It’s possible your mistake can make you famous.
What happens much of the time when we publish is this: our words get lost in the millions of whispers online. No one hears, and no one cares. So why bother?
