The whole world is going through some interesting times. Chances are pretty high that you’re working from home and your principal interaction with others is through virtual means. I know I’m that way as is my company, Redgate Software. It can be challenging or rewarding, depending on how you go about it. What’s even more challenging though are all our virtual interactions, whether through online meetings or social media. That’s why I think this is a time to start making some careful choices.

There’s a lot going by online now. Whether we’re talking about your kids school getting cancelled, your job moving to remote work, your favorite event getting cancelled or postponed, or the endless news posts. With all this online content, it’s really easy to make quick, hot takes on just about everything. However, I strongly advise you to make a choice.

Stop.

Think for just a second.

Is the post, tweet, response, forward, whatever, going to help people or hurt people? If it’s going to help, great. If it’s an actually informative, positive, fact-filled post, then, yes, it’s probably needed. Heck, if it’s just simply fun, it’s absolutely needed. If it’s filled with negative emotional content, there’s a great chance that now is absolutely not the time to share it.

Let’s make some choices now to ensure that we’re assisting through the current unpleasant situation. Let’s choose the positive outcomes. Let’s choose the supportive approach. Let’s make the choice to not add to people’s woes and problems. For most of you, this is what you’re already doing. However, all of us can slip up. Stop. Think. Then post. We’ll all be better for it.