On my last trip to the Netherlands I took the train from Schipol into Amsterdam.
If my kids had been there, they’d have been all excited about the double-decker train carriages.
But what I like best about Dutch trains is the lack of gratuitous, pseudo-service announcements.
The Dutch treat you as an adult and assume a modicum of intelligence on your part.
They assume that you can read simple instructions and get yourself onto the right train.
They assume that you know which stop to get off at.
And they assume that you’ll remember to take your stuff with you when you leave the train.
Progress is serene on Dutch trains.
No processed, insincere protestations of customer love.
No intelligence-insulting and conversation halting announcements.
They appreciate that silence is golden.
They know when to shut the fuck up.
Would that some people would do the same in social spaces.
I’ve posted before about what I see as the heinous crime of live tweeting from events – the presenter loses, you lose, and the people who follow you lose as you bash out a bunch of posts that mean nothing to anyone who isn’t there.
But there are other equally heinous crimes.
I’ve come so, so close to unfollowing and/or unfriending several otherwise funny, informative, nice people who insist on posting absolutely everything to Twitter AND Facebook AND LinkedIn.
Simultaneously.
Just because they can.
Well, just because you can doesn’t mean that you should.
In fact, viewed from the receiving end, you definitely shouldn’t.
“…just because you can doesn’t mean that you should.”
Exactly. I’ve been using the phrase a lot lately and am really hoping I don’t have to keep saying it for much longer. Very applicable to the youngsters who are growing up online now.