It's a Small World

Advice to 20 year old me – part 1.

If the Earth’s surface is 2/3 water and if there’s a point in the Pacific where you can drill straight through and still be in the Pacific then in terms of human habitat it really is a Small World. 

Facebook and LinkedIn have taken person-to-person connections from the pub into the virtual world. Virtual relationships take less effort than real ones and can cross thousands of miles and make international datelines disappear. The result is that we now maintain many times more connections than previous generations. The World has shrunk. This is both a blessing and a curse. 

I have over 500 LinkedIn connections and don’t really know half of them. Yet, any one of them could read this, like it and share it with their 500 LinkedIn connections (subtle hint). Before I have time to think about what to write about in part 2, this post could be read by someone on the other side of the world (although preferably not in the Pacific). If the posting is entertaining, interesting or even a bit funny then having it shared would be great. But what if there was a really embarassing spelling mistake somewhere in the middle? I’d become famous for the all the wrong reasons.

What’s the point of the story? Don’t be an asshole! 

Bad news travels faster and further than good news. If you’re on a bus with a pushchair and a wheelchair user wants to get on, move the pushchair - https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-38663322. If you send your kid on a playdate wearing ￡325 shoes that subsequently get damaged, don’t send the host a bill for new ones - https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/mum-sent-325-invoice-friend-9571695

But lastly and most importantly - because this affects everyone and not just unreasonable bus users or deluded parents - emails can’t be deleted. They last forever and can fly around the world faster than any airliner ever could. Check it, re-read it, sleep on it, seek a second opinion on it. Do whatever it takes so that you don’t regret it. And whatever you do, don’t send an email that’s about someone to that person – that will never end well.