One role it fills is seeing what people unlike yourself in all corners of the world, different age groups, different cultures of all kinds, and so on, are up to

One role it fills is seeing what people unlike yourself in all corners of the world, different age groups, different cultures of all kinds, and so on, are up to, interested in, how they live, and all sorts of unexpected things. I find it to be far more accurate than the imagination, which seems to be most people's preferred approach to forming opinions about people they know nothing about.