I commonly refer to twitter as an online insane asylum. To be fair, I follow politics on twitter, and political twitter is undoubtedly the worst twitter, but still, there is no doubt that the hot takes fired off on touchy, divided subjects are filled with all kinds of regrettable initial emotions.

There is an old philosophical thought experiment where you ask yourself what you would do if you could have some superpower like invisibility at your disposal. Would you use it to anonymously help people? Or sneak into the girls’ locker room? It is meant of course to answer what kind of person I am, and what kind of people we are in general. Well, it’s safe to say that with anonymous comments and the like on social media, we can pretty much see what people would do if they felt themselves free from the repercussions of their actions: many would (and do) act like complete douchebags.

This is of course not news or groundbreaking commentary, we have all seen this behavior and lament it. But we have also probably all experienced the good side of social media. For all the cruddy comments I can find, sometimes people are hilarious too. There are articles I read and then hurry to the comment section just to see the funny comments people will post, and they almost never let me down.

And let’s face it, for whatever nasty aspects of humanity social media inadvertently amplifies, there are really good things about it- the moments when it lives up to its declared intention to bring us all together. 

Like many people, I have been enriched by keeping up with people I can longer see every day. I’m actually happy for the so-called mundane details people post about their lives on Instagram, facebook, tumblr or whatever, because truth be told- this is what my… our lives are made of. The vast majority of us don’t get up every day and solve the world’s problems, we go to work, try to earn enough money, upgrade our lives a little at a time through some small purchases or train ourselves in some aspect we’ve wanted to learn more about. We connect with a circle of friends and family and do our best to be a positive influence in whatever sphere of influence we’ve been given. I don’t expect to see Great Moments™ from every one. I’m happy to see pictures of where you went on your vacation, what you made for dinner, a sunset you thought was pretty and wanted to share, your outfit for the day, and when it suits you: how you happen to be feeling about love, life, God, or yeah, even politics. 

There are seasons in life where I have been personally involved in some of your lives, and then that season ended for one reason or another. We no longer hang out together and swap details of our lives in person, but believe it or not- I still enjoy hearing from you, seeing what you’re doing, seeing the “mundane” things of your life. It lets me know you’re still there, still living your life, still doing your thing through the days. I’m happy for the updates. I have some friends who just don’t like doing social media and don’t want to share what’s happening. I get it. Everyone is different and if they don’t want to share, or feel like it’s OVERsharing, that’s their prerogative. On my part, sometimes I just get caught up in living and don’t think about taking a picture, so I imagine there are others like that too. But from me to you: if you ever start to think no one cares about your everyday pictures, or thoughts; I do.

I can’t “like” everything, and I probably won’t comment on most, but I still appreciate the efforts to let me know what’s happening in your life, and I do read a lot of it even if it’s long (I’m a fast reader).

If we aren’t personally in touch anymore: I miss you, God bless, and thanks for letting me know what’s going on with your life.