Greetings from Tokyo, fellow “Pausers”!

We live in a world of such fast-paced communications change, it can be hard to match our manners to our new machines.

Here are some things to teach our teens, and ourselves:

• Text is not tone-free. Sarcasm has to be worded very carefully, as does sincerity. “That sounds great” can be taken either way, for instance. Add a smirk emoji, though, and your message gets clearer.
• Nothing is as private as you think, even Snapchat. The ease of taking a screenshot is perhaps the sharpest double-edged sword in our daily lives these days. Just ask the honorable elected official from New York, Mr. Weiner.
• Breaking up is hard to do, but doing it by text doesn’t make it easier. It actually increases the chances of things getting nasty. If you want to experience the joys of grownup romantic relationships, you have to be willing to talk like one. (Tell this one to your teens, like, today.)

Peace begins with pause,