Tiny bug on your monitor: swat it or no?

Just a minute ago, there was a tiny green bug on my monitor screen. I raised my hand to swat it as usual, but then it occurred to me that perhaps I shouldn’t. Who knows what kind of experience of life it has – maybe it’s a lot more sentient than we imagine. Maybe it’s the dumbest, happiest creature in the universe. Is it really worth risking something like that just to save myself the very minor annoyance of having it on my screen?

Then I figured that it must be a vegetarian, and it sure isn’t gonna land on any vegetables in this apartment, so I may as well kill it rather than have it starve to death in 12 hours.

Rationalization? What would you do?

Based on reading the thread title, my decision is “move it–don’t squish it because it’ll get the monitor glass dirty.”

I smacked a fly on my monitor once and the mark is still there.

I hate flies. They like to walk around the rim of my glass of Pepsi and sometimes one will fall in.

But a little green bug? I’d let it live.

Same here.

Monitors only attract bugs when their Gods desire sacrifices. It is my duty, as a user of a monitor, to obey the will of the Monitor Gods and sacrifice the little bugs.

It was so tiny that it clearly wasn’t going to leave more than the smallest smudge – one pass with a tissue and it was gone.

Kill it! Kill it! KILLLLLLLL IT!

Swat.

I usually figure out what the bug is… totally forgetting what I intended to do with the computer in the first place. Then I determine whether or not it will live dependent on

  1. is it harmful or beneficial?
  2. can it survive in a household environment and if not, do I care to take it outdoors?
  3. Most important factor… Are the cats bored and nearby? If so, it is “Meet the cute kitty, lil’ bug!”

A small, non-obnoxious winged bug? I’d try to gently remove it and end up accidentally smearing it.

Flies annoy me and thus they die.

Ants are immediately killed on site regardless of the situation if I find them in my apartment. Ants lead to more ants, I want the rare amount of times I see them to remain rare.

Everything else, including spiders which terrify me, gets the protection of a catch and release policy.

I’m one of those people who always hates killing bugs. I will kill flies and wasps because they buzz around so quickly and are hard to capture. Anything else, particularly slow-moving bugs that seem harmless, I try to just put them outside.

If it is on MY monitor, and you squish it, you will be cleaning my monitor for the rest of your life. No fingerprints, no streaks. Get to work. I can’t believe you would have just touched my monitor screen. How would you like me to pour coffee all over your desk? Would you like some smears on your glasses? <dirty monitors are a MAJOR pet peeve of mine>

I will however, swish it off of my monitor and squash it like the bug it is. :smiley:

Spare its tiny life like a benevolent god. Random act of kindness sorta thing.

I can’t reach my monitor from where I’m sitting. If a bug shows up, I try to encourage it to move by fanning it with a piece of paper.

If I can get it fast enough, consider it squooshed.

Always.

I came here for the benefit of your monitor. Don’t swat bugs on it please. Try catching the bug with a soft tissue, or vacuum it up with one of those little whiny vacuums.

Just click it with your mouse pointer.

Aye. You never know when you might catch something at just the right speed and angle … I cracked a car windshield once trying to swat a mosquito. Missed the little )$%@#)(, too.

I’d just blow it off. It’s a bug, who cares!