Sundays with Sarah (22)

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Hello, and welcome once again to another Sundays with Sarah.

This week my post is about "Small Worlds". Many people know of the 6 degrees of separation where we are all separated in some form from one another by 6 degrees or by 6 connections of those we directly know. Well how small does the world get when those degrees are cut down by almost every 2 people and being completely random. Last week I found out that my new boyfriend's family knew my daughter and knows some of her friends. My adopted brother is dating my ex's spouses cousin, and that I have 2 other cousins that just wed, and they didn't know that they were cousins until it was brought up at our family reunion.

Last week I started tutoring a child, and I didn't know that this person was also my daughter’s best friend. Later I found out that a relative of mine, a half sister I recently was reunited with is married to another half brother of mine from the other side of the family and both of them didn't know the connection until I showed my family tree to them.

Yeah...small world eh!

But that's the thing. The world is getting smaller and smaller and smaller because of something in my opinion that is now more common place today than it was 20 or 30 years ago. More and more families are no longer staying nuclear and most now have re-married 2-3 times and with the mixing of so many families and friends of families, but with the advent of technology and social media sites such as twitter and Facebook the degrees of separation are now down to about 3-4 degrees. But in the end, is living in a small world really worth it?

A psychologist I spoke to earlier this week thinks that because of social media creating a smaller world, there is more problems now than there was 20 years ago. Cyber-bullying is on the rise and, criminals are stalking people on social media sites, and the line between personal and public is slowly being erased with the amount of personal information you can find online. Living in a small world can make individuals more paranoid with what others think, it can cause others to be portrayed negatively to other friends and family and even personal events such "what my friend did with your friend" is becoming an issue. I spoke with a few individuals who told me that because of their "small world" it had cost them their marriage from their partner who had an affair, it had cost someone a job because they didn't disclose their religion, and it cost someone their life because of an inappropriate photo that made it online.

But there is a positive side to having a small world. In times of crisis and hopelessness, people can come together faster and provide support better. In the past few weeks I help a friend of my daughters be reunited with her parents who are split and she was caught in the middle, to another friend who a while back wanted to kill themselves and in the end thanks to others came together and saved their life and is now in counseling and receiving the treatment they need.

So is living in a small world really a good thing? Or a bad one?

I guess that is up to you the reader to decide. I know that in the world I live in...My small world is too small and close for comfort.

I would like to hear from you on your opinions of "Living in a small world"

‘Till next time. Have a great week.