You don't have to send it

Real live conversation - remember it? Not a text, not an email, not a post. 
A quote attributed to Randi Zuckerberg, sister of the famous guy: "If you're going to put something in writing, make sure you would be comfortable if it was reprinted in a newspaper." 

Texting, emailing and posting have a double edged weakness:

• They remove personal interaction. Vocabulary, gestures, responses, emotions, you get those things in a face to face. By default, words decrease with tiny keys, abbreviations, and aware of it or not, that decrease carries over in live conversation. Eyes tell the brain so much about another person; the keyboard simply cannot compete with that kind of input.
• They are essentially permanent. That written message becomes a forever traceable record. Where a spoken conversation between two people may be misstated or misinterpreted, the actual words are just a whisper of a memory. They can be forgotten, even denied. But put it in writing, and they are forever, around for anyone to see. Write something wrong or hurtful? A reply to all broadcasts those words. Or that text message may be forwarded to 300 people. And post or social-media-it, the results can be heartbreaking.

I love email, prefer it to phone calls. I'm not a quick thinker, so writing time to get the words right. It lets me communicate at a time of my choice. Sometimes it even lets me vent, knowing that I can backspace all those angry words away: the send button is an option, not a have-to. Better than email, though, is a give and take conversation, two people talking, responding, working through a problem or just enjoying a fresh idea. Caring and interested in the other person.

LinkedIn expert, Melanie Dodaro takes Zuckerberg's caution one more step up the ladder:  "I would even go as far to extend this to cover pictures, videos or any other form of media that can be attached to you in any way. Not only is it important that potential clients aren't seeing anything negative, you really have no idea who is looking at that stuff. It could be a new girlfriend/boyfriend 10 years from now, a competitor, potential business partner…anything is susceptible to go up in smoke once you hit that "Post" button, so be absolutely sure you want it out there."