Once a message has been sent electronically, the writer has ceded power not just to the recipient, but to whomever the recipient chooses to forward the information. To access electronic communication is to control it. The recipient, not the writer, has power over future dissemination of the writer’s words.

Neither inherently good nor evil, electronic communication platforms are 100 percent dependent on user input.

Every posting, message, or email creates an impression, a public persona, from which other people make judgments. We make judgments about others, but how often do we turn that critical analysis on ourselves?

For every opinion, there is an equal and opposite opinion.

An organization's proprietary, internal information is constrained only by an understanding that stake-holders will keep organizational matters within the organization.

A damaging email forwarded outside the organization is indicative of problems within the organization.

The written word imparts a gravitas the spoken word lacks. The underlying assumption is that time and thought has been expended on what was written, even if that is not the case.

A car crash at seventy-five miles an hour results in glass and steel strewn about the roadway. Emergency workers attend to the injured drivers, passengers and bystanders, and remove the wreckage. An electronic communication wreck lacks the visual drama, but imparts damage just as real and just as permanent. A momentary lapse in judgment may prove catastrophic for the writer, their family, coworkers, and stakeholders.

Emails, texts and social media promise the writer the power to be heard…In a society where relinquishing control is viewed as weakness, power is relinquished through every message sent without forethought to the potential consequences.