Internet Etiquette: Behaving Oneself While Online

Online in simple word of the dictionary can be understood as the state of being connected. In today’s world, two words play a major role whenever we talk about ‘online’. Internet and social media. Internet and social media have become a major factor affecting the social, economic, political and educational aspect of a person. With the major threat of pandemic and lockdown arising worldwide, the platform of interaction and dependency of internet has grown up.

The Covid-19 resulted in shutting down of the schools all across the world. The pandemic changed everything, including education. Thus, online classes became a suitable alternative for this concerning situation. Online classes provide various benefits to both the teachers and students. With mostly the availability of digital versions of study material, online classes help in making the total cost spent in education a lot lesser. It somehow makes learning more comfortable for the students who are shy to talk in front of the physical class. With all benefits provided by online classes, it becomes very important to abide to the rules and ethics of this organisation.

Even without any guidelines, rules and regulations there is an etiquette that needs to followed during online classes but any kind of social media existing. This internet etiquette that has become important for everybody to follow in terms of communications are called as ‘Netiquette’. For starters, one should stop posting about everything which is not necessary, as this could damage the privacy of both the person who posted it and the person he or she posted about. It is also important for everyone to remember that posting something that belonged to someone else, is not only morally wrong but also illegal. The rules of copyrights should be taken seriously for not only people using social media, but the students too. Where the students can quote out the definitions given by philosophers by giving proper credit to them, they should refrain from copying someone else’s work and present it as theirs. A person’s behaviour in the internet should be courteous and kind, just like in the public. One is free to present his or her thought in the internet without being aggravated by others opinion.

If one is following netiquette, he or she is not only being a safe internet user but responsible, smart, and having respect for oneself and others. It is true that internet has developed our everyday conversation. Internet has definitely lifted up all the physical barrier and has formed a new world where people are connected to one another. While technology has made it easier to connect with friends and family around the world, we should set a clear boundary on our constant need to use the technology and give some time to our mental health. While internet provides anonymity for those who are socially shy, it is very crucial to not use this benefit for something negative. We should not only be concerned with our feelings and emotions but also consider feelings and emotions of others. Boundaries are very important and should be applied everywhere. This implies when we’re online too. One must be always considerate and should always think first before doing anything that has the potentiality of disturbing and hurting others.

There is a tendency of every person to misbehave while online. That’s when the concept of self-control comes up. There are certain precautions that should always be taken to help a person to minimalize his or her behaviour that can be offensive. This self-control should be practiced in every aspect of life not only online. If one fails to behave properly online, it indicates that person is rude socially too. One must practice self-control by achieving specific or long-term goal. One must concentrate on behaving properly in present if he or she has a focus about the future. As future can be changed with the acts of the person in the present. One must be careful of his or her choice of words when speaking in online platform. While swearing and offensive words is inappropriate in public, it is inappropriate in online platform too. If the person has not something good to say, it is not important and necessary for him or to say something bad. The current generation has more knowledge about internet than those who belong from older generation. But having more knowledge does not mean that one is free to manipulate and abuse its power. Not everything is hidden when it comes to internet and one must keep it in mind before abusing its power.

When someone is behaving properly online and ignores another person not doing that, he or she is as much responsible as the other person. Online etiquette does not only ask for the people to behave properly but also asks them to influence others to behave properly. This means that no tolerance should be shown by one toward any kind of misbehaviour in the internet. It becomes very important for people to follow netiquette and encourage others to do the same. Online behavioural standard has been evolving with time. While online guidelines cannot completely discuss about the standard that one is expected to meet. One must try to behave what he or she is expected to without even being instructed.

One should stop his or her habit of evaluating and talking other people’s achievements, opinions, and beliefs in the internet. One should always be humble and less judgemental when his or her idea does not match with others. One should always find a way to solve his or her habit of misjudgement. One should always ensure that he or she is following and courting his or her behaviour when online. As has been shown, this boundless, yet vulnerable platform of human interactions has been challenging by one to find a way to not only communicate his or her thoughts efficiently, but delivering it with dignity and mutual respect. Nowadays moderating oneself cannot be a strategy that promises permanent success, as it copes with symptoms. Moderation of behaviour does not heal the wounds. The right medicine here is formalizing how we should and might interconnect with each other to ensure that our discussions are fruitful and yet polite. In internet platform, one doesn’t meet another person face to face and so he or she may not know how to conduct himself or herself properly when interacting with others. One should display ethical behaviour when he or she goes online. One should not violate the laws and guidelines of society and internet platform, thinking that one will not get caught. One should employ discretion in online interactions by adjusting his or her responses and behaviour according to the kind of people one is happening to interact with. In cyberspace too, some people have more power. They may be experts in an office or system administrators. Such people should not take advantage of their power.

A classroom is different from other social environments that a student may encounter in his or her life. The classroom should be a learning-centred environment in which faculty and students are unhindered by disruptive behaviour. Students differ in personality, interests, learning styles, and levels of thinking in every class. In such a situation and for the smooth running of a class, certain rules, regulations, moral standards, and procedures are created and have to be strictly followed by students in classrooms. When it comes to online classes as much as online etiquette is expected to be followed, the guidelines are also very much necessary to be followed. There is some basic behaviour that is expected from every student. It includes avoiding to arrive late at class. Being present in online class on time also shows that one is respectful of others time. If one is going to make the effort to arrive on time and be in class, one should also make the effort to stay actively engaged in class, as it assures the teachers to whether move on or explain things again. One of the most important factors that one must follow is that the students should come to class all prepared with all the homework completed as assigned by the teacher. It is a myth among students that they don’t feel the need to complete the homework, since it’s an online class and there is a very slight chance that teacher might catch who has or has not completed the homework or the assignment. Online classes depend a lot on links and internet connection, so one is expected to be patient and not to panic. If one faces any kind of technic problem, that is in general faced by everybody try to cause less chaos and try to help the teacher if asked to. There may be times when one needs to leave class early, but one must not make a habit of doing so. If one does need to leave class early, the best solution is to alert the professor ahead of time. Although students have to access classes from the comfort of their home, it is still a professional setting for their teacher to be presentable and to attend the classes properly. One must also need to know the ins and outs of the specific tool used by his or her teacher and take some time beforehand to learn all the features, instead of constantly asking the teacher about it and thus creating disturbance in the class. The incidents of accidental unmuting can be avoided by taking precautions and being alert of the tools used in the online classes. When it comes to mics one should also assure that he or she is not speaking directly speaking and breathing on their mic as this too could create a sense of distress. One needs to be wary of his or her surrounding while accessing classes so as not to cause any distraction or disruption to sessions. It needs to be ensured that the person is in a quiet place during class so that there are no sudden sounds which can be heard by the entire class. All the participants of an online class need to remember that it is a classroom setting, consisting of all learners' classmates and teachers. Students need to follow all the etiquettes they would in a regular classroom. We can ensure a happy and peaceful life by the way of implementing all the etiquette as a habit.

Using etiquette as a habit not only makes us feel good but also increases our importance and respect within the eyes of others. “Netiquette,” is important during a civilized work environment or personal relation. The first rule of internet etiquette is to be kind and courteous. Being nice includes avoiding cyber bullying. One must think about how they would have felt if someone else said whatever they just typed about themselves. If one finds it the least bit disturbing, then one must not hesitate to delete it.Most people use the web to save lots of time, so honour that and keep all messages as brief as possible. If somebody has more to mention, one must try breaking it up into smaller topics. this may force him or her to be more organized and enable the reader to digest the knowledge during a more orderly manner. One must avoid using all caps in any email or post. As it means that he or she is shouting, when that might not be the case. One must be careful to what he or she posts. So before posting anything on internet one should always check its tone and message. Since anything one posts on the Internet is out there for all to see, he or she should avoid adding anything personal. If someone appears to be new to the internet, one must offer their assistance. Share information on proper etiquette and educate others about how to behave properly.

The usual approach to behave properly in internet is to develop written lists of rules for online behaviour. These basic, sense rules are often effective, but they're often read and forgotten. When upheld by moderators, community leaders and participants they're more likely to successful; particularly for setting standards within the youth of a community’s life. Moderating is a well-known practice for preventing impolite behaviour online. However, moderating are often demanding and time-consuming, particularly in active communities. Knowing when to regulate groups, when to abandoning, and the way to usher in non-participants isn't as obvious because it might sound. Role models could be the most beneficial way to promote good and healthy behaviour in internet platform. Watching what others do is also a typical strategy for newcomers to an internet community. It enables them to evaluate the tone of the community before launching in, and then avoid causing offense. Even the people belonging from an established community adopt this wise strategy when joining a new communities because each community has its own standards and ways of behaving. What's acceptable in one won't be in another. Mentoring might be helpful in technical, specialist and cross-cultural communities. This approach has been used widely and mostly in education environments. This approach encourages empathy and shared understanding, which is vital online where non-verbal cues are reduced or missing. Digital etiquette is basic rules you ought to follow to form the web a secure and better for yourself and others. You also should be careful how you word things because you could be joking and they may not get your joke and instead get offended. People usually know these rules and just choose to ignore them when on the internet because they’re not face to face and they think they can get away with it or feel like they can bully someone so they don’t see their face and either don’t feel bad or just won’t have to deal with the consequences. Being digitally etiquette means you using appropriate language on the internet, not hacking others computers or someone’s personal sites, not downloading anything illegally, etc. Instead of being mean online you could be nice, you could compliment someone instead of writing a mean comment on a picture or even let them know you are there for them when they’re having a hard day. Not add to their problems, do something to make them smile even if it’s only for a second to make their day easier to get through. Besides knowing how to behave appropriately in a given situation makes you more comfortable. Proper etiquette requires that you simply make others comfortable and protect their feelings. you are doing not means their errors or draw attention to their mistakes. In any working situation, you're perceived as more capable, more professional, and more intelligent if you're conversant in the right code of conduct for the workplace. When online the people around you may be feeling just as miserable, but you do not necessarily want their misery dumped on you, so do not share yours with them. Instead, take the time to be well mannered and uphold the small good gestures of life. Netiquette guide cannot address every possible situation you will face as you move through life. There are countless situations in internet when you will have the opportunity to practice it.

While internet creates an energy and excitement that gives birth to creativity and collaboration. Unfortunately, that also means that civil behaviour and professional standards are often overlooked. Much has been made from late about plagiarism and stealing of data on the web. It starts with the misunderstood concept all information on the web is public. Information is public, but it's not a public right. There is a difference. Everyone knows that plagiarism is wrong. But there is another layer of responsible behaviour on social media that is the act of attribution. Which means giving the source of where you got the information you are posting, is not ethical or unethical, it's just polite behaviour. While the principles of netiquette apply to social media, it’s important to know what differentiates social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn from other corners of the net. Because social media sites revolve around adding “friends” to your social circles, they enable users to share information selectively. Not all information has relevancy to all or any users, and respecting people’s time is vital. One must separate them into different lists can make this process easier. It should also be kept in the mind that professional communication and personal communication are growing increasingly blurred. So, one may find it beneficial to keep personal and professional social media accounts separately.

In order to earn respect and to be taken seriously one must follow the basic etiquette when being online. In current generation where everything depends on internet, our future somehow is affected to how we behave outside and online. One must not be ignorant to the rules that is supposed to followed by him or her. Ensuring how to behave properly in present also helps us ensure about our future. It not only ensures that our future is going to safe but it also helps in building our personality. Added benefit to behaving properly both online and offline is that it creates a strong foundation for your community. All the action of one influence a positive impact on the community. Thus, helping the community to develop and grow. When one behaves a proper way online, he or she gets the benefit of building a good relationship with other people across the social network. Proper behaviour specially in online classes helps in making the individual postings easy to follow, keep the conversation thread focused, and the overall discussion on-track. It is important that the behaviour is moderated to have a productive classroom.

There is always an exception and rules for proper etiquette in various places can shift from one situation to another. The important this is to remain mindful of how one is perceived in the social platform he or she is participating. And one is perceived based on his or her actions across the social platform.