Social media has changed the way news travels these days. There was a time not long ago where if something happened in say, Australia, it would take a few hours to make its way around the globe. In these days of social media, something happens in Australia at noon, wherever you are, within five minutes you are going to be aware of it.

In other words, news is almost instant these days.

Social media is also useful in other ways as well. It helps you understand the peoples a little better than you would have normally been able to. On Facebook, for example, people sometimes have thousands of 'friends'; people who want to link up with you for whatever reason. There are also groups where people go to discuss common interests.

Melting pot of personalities

What I have come to discover is that if you pay attention, you can learn a lot about the people you are 'friends' with. It is a melting pot of personalities, some great, some not so much. I can honestly say many of the people you come in contact with on Facebook, you wouldn't want to be real friends with in real life.

There are those, for example, who are extremely politically tribal. I used to believe that 'tribalists' were usually the poor, under- and uneducated folks, who are easily brainwashed by political rhetoric, but as I have come to discover, there are those who are supposedly well educated, who are incapable of thinking beyond party lines. Those people I rarely have 'chats' with because there is no exchange of ideas.

They want you to accept their myopic vision and if you don't, you are a supporter of the other side. Their reasoning defies obvious logic, which to me makes them, well, let's just say people I would not want much to do with.

So I tend to steer clear of them and even when they post things that rile me because the posts are so utterly ridiculous, I take a deep breath and move on.

Avoid and deleted

The people I avoid and in many instances have deleted are people who feel compelled to share pictures of their deceased family members in their coffins, pictures of people who have met gruesome deaths, and all kinds of disturbing images which they somehow find amusing. I mean, what kind of twisted mind shares these kinds of gruesome things? It makes you appreciate why many of us are so violent and gives us a peek into their murky lives and the dysfunctional environments in which they exist.

Of course, Facebook is not all about the dark, the ugly and the stupid. There are many positive things that occur in that space as well. People celebrating birthdays are made to feel very special.

It never ceases to amaze me how wonderful it feels to have hundreds of people wishing you happy birthday or congratulating you on individual accomplishment. Yes, not everyone means what they say, but the words somehow mean a lot.

Then there are days when nothing seems to be going right and someone shares something that makes you laugh, and laugh hard. Sometimes they share a picture of something pleasant that helps make a difficult situation somehow seem more manageable. Sometimes, all that is shared is just a kind word during moments of grieving. Whatever it is, it often helps to make things a little more manageable.

One thing that I have noted with great interest, however, is that Facebook is a virtual world. It's not real. You know how I know? There are people who are 'friends' on Facebook and chat every day and share pictures and personal information and they pass each other on the street, perfect strangers.

Now isn't that something?

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