social media

I've always seen social media as one part THERAPUETIC, one part SOCIAL INTERACTION, and one part OBSERVATION.

Therapeutic: allows a person to VENT (very Freudian), to express and channel frustration or CELEBRATION into a media source that allows for a lifting experience. Note: there are limits to this that should be exercised else consequences are inevitable.

Social Interaction: allows the above to be shared and reciprocated (humans ARE social creatures, afterall) and allows for connecting with others long-since removed and allows for a sense of commonality (important trait for people who aren't schizo-avoidant).

Observation: people who STUDY like I do get a bird's eye and sometimes even a microscopic view into what other people truly THINK about a thing. There is a reason companies used to (before FB and Twitter started suing them for it) comb through social media postings of prospective/current employees to see if they were hiring racists/discriminators/sexists/Et al. I find it's specifically-rewarding to cross-reference what people share/think with others to give me a better perspective. I've also been able to filter-out a great deal of bulls**t and fakery this way---just like a traditional interrogation (aka "interview"), people are all-too-willing to spill everything out in the open without much effort to pull it from them (take how many YouTube and other postings serial killers, thieves, and other criminals have openly bragged about what they did, recently). I use the old adage: keep your friends close but your "enemies" closer with social media this way. Why would I want to shield myself from them when I can watch their every move?