It is amazing the different uses of social media and the wide variety of information people are willing to share with friends, family, acquaintances and complete strangers. It is something that I have been paying more attention to for the past couple of months as we have gone through the election season, through hurricane Sandy, the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary, gun control policy and now the Manti Te’o situation. On top of all these story lines in our country today, people have all sorts of things going on in their personal lives ranging from the wonderful events life brings (weddings, babies, etc.) and the gut punches life tends to deal (break ups, illness, family feuds, etc).
Why do people choose to share what they do? What drives them to comment on sensitive issues with extreme bias? How do they allow themselves to fall in love with perfect strangers? Why do they share personal information know that most people will glance at it for less than a second and never think about it again? Continue reading