Just like drinking and driving don’t mix well together, strong emotions and technology don’t either! It’s too easy to send heated, harmful comments that you later regret.

Sara was a kind hearted girl who would never purposely hurt anyone. At least she didn’t think she would. But when she broke up with Sam and started dating Tyler, Sam had strong feelings of jealousy and revenge, and he let the nasty text messages fly! Sara was so hurt and felt a strong need to defend herself. Of course, her messages only made Sam’s messages more frequent and heated. Police got involved and charges were threatened if they didn’t stop the messaging. After a few days, when things quieted down, Sara felt terrible about the cruel and awful messages she had sent. When rereading her posts, she couldn’t even believe she had said those things. She had intense feelings of guilt and embarrassment, but the damage had been done. Sara wishes she would have had the strength to “not respond” like people were telling her.

Not responding to someone who is hurling insults at you is hard for anyone, especially when you’re a teenager. When you feel strong emotions, you need to take a break from your phone or computer, and have an alternative plan. Go shoot hoops, go for a run, take a shower, talk to a friend, but don’t send messages on your phone or computer until you have calmed down!

Once you hit the send button, it’s gone and sometimes it’s impossible to retrieve. The damage is done and you can’t take it back. It’s out there for anyone to see.