Some wise words about electronic communications...

I enjoyed reading about google's latest technological advance to try to save us from ourselves in this Slate post. I had to laugh at the following paragraph, in the been-there-done-that sort of way:

Auto-complete is insidious because it's just helpful enough. You don't have to remember anyone's e-mail address, and it would be tedious to disable the feature and go back to the old days. But it's so easy to type a few letters, hit return, and ruin your year. Just ask Steve Shanks, an athletic director at a Catholic High school in Iowa who complained about the "[l]ong-ass singing and a long-ass homily" of one of the priests and slighted the girls basketball team in an e-mail that was meant for his brother Joe Shanks, but instead was sent to Joe Katich, a coach he had fired. Or, to give the most prominent example, the lawyer for Eli Lilly who wanted to e-mail her co-counsel Bradford Berenson details of a negotiation but instead sent them to Alex Berenson, a reporter for the New York Times. The result was a front-page scoop revealing that Eli Lilly was talking with the government about a billion-dollar fine for improperly marketing its anti-psychotic drug Zyprexa. (And so much for the effectiveness of those lengthy legal disclaimers at the bottom of corporate e-mails.)

In response to this, Josh Harris offers the following scripture, tweeked slightly to reflect our electronic media, to inform us:

Psalm 141:3
Set a guard, O Lord, over my keyboard;
keep watch over the door of my send button!

James 1:19
Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to read, slow to reply all, slow to click send.

Proverbs 10:19
When blogging is abundant, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his keyboard is prudent.

Proverbs 12:18
There is one whose comments on blogs are like sword thrusts, but the comments of the wise brings healing.

Proverbs 14:7
Don't follow the Twitter feed of a fool, for there you do not meet words of knowledge.

Proverbs 12:23
A prudent man conceals knowledge, but the Twitter feed of fools proclaims folly.