The larger our cities seem to grow, the more isolated and suspicious we seem to become, except under the influence of mind altering substances?
Or at the football or other sport,which encourages the best and worst aspects or elements of tribalism, and or, the survival of the fittest, or most primordial?
I mean, headhunting is still practiced in some sports, where the perceived intention, seems to be to remove it?
Perhaps the very tribalism of some sports, is what makes them so popular?
The one good thing to come out of all this new-found change, is social media, and quite ordinary or very dull people able to have a say or some input?
And as some might say, out of the mouths of babes and infants!
Rhrosty.

You have a way with words Rhrosty.

CO2 is a mind altering substance.
It's making a lot of nonsense come out of mouths of adults.

‘morning Mal,

I think there are two levels or communities at which social media operates, one is good and the other very bad.

On the plus side there are those who use SM to increase contact with family and follow each other in a caring, sharing and benevolent way.

On the downside SM has created a community for the disenfranchised, dysfunctional, low of self esteem, ideologically trapped, poorly educated, angry and the frustrated.

This community vilifies and bullies those who do not share its perspectives on any adopted issues. It has become just another “self referential affirmation” network as defined by behavioral science and is driven by “cult” attributes.

As a collective, this community defines its enemies and “gangs up” on them as a means of sating their own pain. They gain a sense of belonging and identity which they translate into driving each other into ever greater excesses and abuse.

This aspect of SM might provide some short term gratification but in the long run it just intensifies their inherent problems and solves nothing.

Sadly there are many in our media who participate in the downside. This in my view is one of the greatest travesties of SM because by participating at this level they denigrate their profession, they have become partisan to partisan issues and have moved this phenomenon from Social Media to Commercial/Political Media.

There are no new idea’s from SM, just rehashing and distribution of old ones to the same self referential audience.