THE WONDERFUL WORLD of social media has enraptured many of us over the last few years.

You may have started with Bebo (or if you had notions of grandeur, Myspace) or only got addicted at the tail end of Facebook, but chances are there are things you learn from it everyday.

No, seriously.

There are certain things that you’ll pick up from people on social network sites that you’d never really understand otherwise.

1. How “blessed” they are.

If it weren’t for social media we’d never know how blessed to be on social media all social media users are.

So blessed.

Too Blessed 2 B Stressed 24/7

2. What that random stranger you met in a youth hostel 7 years ago is up to now

Years ago you’d meet people on your holidays or on other random adventures and have a great time and probably never see them again.

Now you vow to keep in touch after adding each other on Facebook within mere minutes of meeting.

Down the line that leaves you with the posts of a relative stranger in your feed but isn’t nice to know that the German girl you meet while backpacking around Europe is now working in accounts?

Isn’t it?

3. How badly your childhood sweetheart is aging

Before the advent of social media and constant pictures of everybody it was easy to be surprised by how people aged.

You’d bump into someone you hadn’t seen in years and the ravages of time were scarily evident.

That sweet little girl that you remembered from your first few years at school that used to look like this:

Jean Cummings/EMPICS Entertainment

Now they’ve constantly being posting pictures of their debauchery and they look like this:

via Bangs and Blush

Aren’t you glad social media can keep you up to date on that kind of thing?

4. What embarrassing songs your nearest and dearest just listened to

All Action/EMPICS Entertainment

Years ago you’d spend nights in your mates house eagerly requesting songs from your favourite radio station and hoping for a shout-out and later in life you’d start making your way to music festivals and gigs together.

Now, thanks to social media you can track their every musical move and a lot of the time you can discover great new music.

But it also reveals the truth such as when they go on a Spotify binge of cheesy tunes and forget to turn on Private Session.

Ironically listening to the Mr Blobby single over lunch were we?

Gotcha.

5.  Exactly what your friends are eating for lunch today.

Pictures of Hipsters Taking Pictures of Food / Tumblr

And everyday.

How did you survive without artfully filtered pictures of what your mates are eating on any given day?

How?

6. Exactly what the weather is like at any given moment

via Shutterstock

Before our social media addiction took hold we would have to look out a window or (even worse) leave the house to know what the weather is like.

But now we never have to give Met Eireann any heed when we have a raft of Facebook friends posting about the heavy rain or endless  tweets about how sunny it is at any given location.

Good job social media users. Good job.

7. How talented people are at taking pictures of themselves

via Imgur

Before social media we didn't have the selfie in the form we know it today.

And we had no idea that so many people could perfect the art of making odd faces and taking pictures of their own face usually accompanied by some faux self-deprecating caption.

Truly, this is a skill that is now getting the attention it so badly deserves.

8. Just how little style you have

Ian West/PA Archive/Press Association Images

You might think that your mirror lets you know how your chosen ensembles are going to look in the big bad world but it's pictures of you on social media that will really show you.

Those jeans you think are super flattering? Make you look like some kind of deranged clown at a really bad children's party when photographed.

That t-shirt in a colour that you reckon suits your skin tone? Turns you into a human pumpkin in photos.

Thanks to constant tagging of you in pictures on Facebook you'll realise you have to rethink your entire wardrobe faster than you can say Trinny and Susannah.

How ... helpful.

9. People you thought were really cool are in fact not cool at all.

Suzan/Suzan/EMPICS Entertainment

You might think that social media is where people show off and make you feel bad that you aren't constantly on holiday or very, very attractive.

But it also can totally shatter illusions you may have held about people.

The musician you admired your whole life? Their tweets are banal, gloating and make you think they're probably a bit of a dope.

That guy you always thought was so much cooler than you? Posts the most cringe inducing Facebook statuses ever.

If you have anyone in your life you want to believe is in fact really impressive we suggest never engaging with them on social media.

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