( CNN ) -- Remember when social media websites were just about sharing fun things ? I 'm talking about the time when Facebook was essentially a place to post photos of you having a great time and the most serious event shared was when a person changed his or her status from `` in a relationship '' to `` single . '' But those days are gone . Social media has now become a place to share deeply personal and often horribly painful events in our lives . It has , in essence , become an online group therapy session where people reveal the details of dreadful events from their lives in the hopes it helps them cope and will attract support from others . We saw it on display this week with 16-year-old Hannah Anderson , who was taken hostage by James DiMaggio for a week after he allegedly killed Hannah 's mother and younger brother . Within days of being freed , Hannah went online to the website ask.fm and answered questions from the public about her ordeal . And she did n't just respond to a few questions , she fielded a long list of probing questions from `` Why did n't you run ? '' to `` Are you glad ( DiMaggio is ) dead ? '' I noticed this evolution in the way people had begun to use social media last year , and at the time , I did n't like it . My concern was : Why would anyone share the intimate details of tragic events from their lives with people online , many of whom are strangers ? It really hit home this year when a friend posted on Facebook that he had been diagnosed with cancer . I was shocked , first by the news but second by the fact he announced his diagnosis on Facebook . Typically , this would be the type of news you would share only with family and close friends , and probably in a face-to-face conversation . But reading the comments responding to his original posting -- and the comments to his subsequent posts about his treatment -- caused me to change my view on what was appropriate to share on social media . The amount of support he received on his Facebook page was astounding . He was touched by it , noting that the outpouring brought him comfort and inspired him to fight the disease even harder . Many others are sharing the most heartwrenching events in their lives . In just the past few weeks , friends on Facebook or Twitter have posted information about the deaths of a parent or a grandparent . And this week , I saw an even more candid sharing of information when a friend posted on Facebook that his brother in Egypt had been shot by the police there during the recent protests . He followed that up a few hours later with updates about surgery to save his brother 's life . Finally , he posted a photo of his deceased brother from the morgue where they identified his body . A few weeks ago , NPR host Scott Simon tweeted live updates from his dying mother 's hospital room to his more than 1 million Twitter followers . Some said Simon was invading his mother 's privacy while others labeled him as self-centered , focused more on himself than his dying mother . But like many others , I found it to be a moving tribute to his mother . What sparked this trend to divulge information that had once been revealed only to family and close friends ? There are a few reasons . First , it 's clearly therapeutic for many . By sharing their painful experiences , it helps the person heal , and the show of support by others bolsters them . Second , those who have been using social media for years on a daily basis have grown accustomed to sharing events and experiences from everyday life . We are now extending the scope of what we will share from our lives . Finally , I believe there 's a connection between a willingness to share private aspects of our lives and the reality TV show world in which we have been immersed for over a decade . On a nightly basis , we see people share their triumphs and tragedies , be it on shows like `` Big Brother '' or `` The Real World '' or more contrived ones like `` Honey Boo Boo '' or `` Keeping up with the Kardashians . '' They have made it easier and more acceptable for us to do the same . To me , the best thing about this new trend is that you get to control it . It 's your choice whether to disclose deeply personal information . Those who find it unnerving or inappropriate can keep that information secret . But for the rest , social media may end up being a less expensive but helpful form of therapy . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Dean Obeidallah .
Dean Obeidallah : Social media evolved from sharing trivial matters to more personal ones . Hannah Anderson answered personal questions about her abduction . Comment: Obeidallah : Sharing more is a good thing , if it helps bring comfort to those who suffer .