I'm driving to the grocery store.

In no particular rush, I'm going the speed limit on a four-lane road. A young man in a sporty vehicle passes me like I'm standing still, narrowly missing me in his race to switch from left lane to right.

"Wow!" I think. "He's in a hurry."

Four hundred meters ahead, I see him smash on his brake lights as he swiftly turns into the grocery store parking lot. Seconds later, I turn into the same lot, intending to park in the first empty space I find.

photo credit: Quinn Dombrowski

It's a pleasant, sunshiny day. It'll do my heart good to walk through the lot to the store. Plus, it's good for the environment: I'll save a few precious drops of fuel.

I throw my turn signal to indicate that I'm going to turn into an empty parking space near the back of the lot. However, Mr. HotRod has since zoomed passed the first few parking spaces nearest the door and found them to be occupied. He races madly to my desired space in the crowded lot and swoops into it, ignoring my signalled intention.

Sighing, I drive up the aisle in search of another parking spot. There, in a coveted first space, I see a car backing out. Shrugging, I pull into it.

I step out of the vehicle and saunter toward the entrance to the grocery store.

As I do, Mr. HotRod catches up to me on his much longer walk to the store. Recognizing that he's in an enormous hurry, I gesture for him to enter before me when the automatic door of the grocery slides open.

"Oh, no," he says kindly, smiling broadly and making a sweeping gesture. "I'm a gentleman. Ladies first."

Apparently, he wasn't in that much of a hurry. He spent the first few minutes of his shopping trip following me about the store and trying to strike up a conversation.

I wasn't interested.

photo credit: hr.icio

Meet the man behind the machine. Behind the wheel of his car, this fellow exhibited less than gentlemanly behavior. He blatantly disregarded a safe speed limit. He almost hit me on the road. He cut me off. He ignored my signal.

But in person, he was a peach: trying his best to be charming, interesting, and entertaining.

I see people behave like this in online social channels, too.

Behind the relative anonymity of their computers, some disregard posted rules. They spam.

• They're in a race to compulsively add friends and followers, collecting people like poker chips.
• They broadcast instead of interact.
• They cut into conversations and ask you to view their naughty bits or buy their wares.
• They ignore signals of disinterest and keep persisting in unwanted behaviors.

Some folks routinely perform unsavory and anti-social acts from behind a machine! Most would never act this way in person.

Behind the wheel, behind the screen, or behind any machine -- remember, we're social creatures. We're interacting with real people.

And we're not really anonymous anymore.

Online, every action matters.

Be civil and courteous -- especially when you think no one is looking!

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