Keller @ Large: Try Self-Censorship In 2015

BOSTON (CBS) -- Looking for a New Year's resolution that's realistic and might save your job one day?

Here's an idea, with apologies to Archie Bunker: stifle yourself.

Regular listeners here know I tend to support free speech, and decry the censorship instincts of the PC police. I think it's OK to wish someone a "Merry Christmas," even on public property.

But self-censorship is not just a good thing, it's vital to the functioning of a civil society, and, according to new academic research, to the productive functioning of a mixed-gender business meeting.

Researchers found that "creativity in mixed-sex groups is enhanced by imposing…a norm that sets clear expectations for how men and women should interact with one another."

You know – like a middle-school dance party.

That same principle should be broadly applied to use of the internet, an arena where the ease of access and the illusion of anonymity seems to spur people to say offensive things they'd never put their name to. And in the last few years the internet has emerged as our primary theater of self-destruction.

Remember Justine Sacco, the p-r person who got herself fired a year ago for tweeting as she boarded an overseas flight: "Going to Africa. Hope I don't get AIDS. Just kidding. I'm White!"

It turns out Sacco was sarcastically spoofing racists and their stereotypes about Africa. But her tweet was taken seriously, and the web erupted with condemnation.

Just another reason why most tweets – like many things people unwisely say – should be discarded before they're sent.

Self-censorship – a New Year's resolution that could be the smartest one you'll ever make.

Listen to Jon's commentary:

You can listen to Keller @ Large on WBZ News Radio every weekday at 7:55 a.m. and 12:25 p.m. You can also watch Jon on WBZ-TV News.

MORE POLITICAL NEWS FROM CBS BOSTON