It was a day not unlike any other. The FCC moves to keep net neutrality. Jihadi John is identified. Missouri governor candidate dies in reported suicide. A day of headlines, these just a few.

The average worker is winding down for the night, thoughts of the weekend just entering their eager mind. A glance towards the smart phone, and suddenly the peace of mind is gone. Much discussion is had, differences in opinion turn to arguments, arguments turn to aggression, and all at once a war is started. Lines are drawn, families torn apart. Two major camps of thought have emerged from the rubble, and neither will back down.

This isn’t politics. Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2015, a tumblr user by the name of “swiked” posts a picture of a dress. The user asks the community of tumblr to resolve a debate amongst her friends. They cannot determine its true color scheme.

Flash forward about a day. The photo has gone viral, and the internet is abuzz. You either see gold and white, or black and blue. Many try to explain the phenomenon that can only be described as an enigma of visual perception.

The top trending hashtag on twitter is “The dress.” Many a clever quip has been had on the subject. Celebrities have commented on it. Taylor Swift says its Black and blue, while B.J. Novak sees white and gold and Cole Sprouse offers an ambiguous criticism of the whole event. Likes have stacked up, reblogs, retweets and shares as well. Considering the ever lessening attention span of modern society, it seems by the time this story reaches an audience all the magic will have been squeezed out of this. Publishing an article may just yet be beating a dead horse.

Thursday’s viral news also tells of Kanye West’s apology to Beck, and a couple of llamas on the run from the cops. Now what were those headlines mentioned at the beginning of the article? Jihadist Missouri governor calls the FCC’s decision on net neutrality suicide?

The topics most talked about are entertainment pieces. We talk about the color of a dress or the hilarity of llamas (Really?) and we can forget our troubles. Focusing on the silly, or rather, blocking out the reality, makes living easier. Not having to think about actual events is relaxing.

This all poses an interesting question; What news do we pay attention to the most? What does that say about us as a society? Do we as a society focus on reality or escape? It seems we live in a world where we choose to hide from reality rather than face it.

Is it so much what we suffer our time to or what is shown to us? Perhaps all the viral, buzzfeed-esc stories are only dominant news to those who attain their news from social media.

It could go either way, it’s hard to say really. Whatever way you look at it though, it is interesting to think about, maybe even change provoking, depending on how you choose to look at it.

Tomorrow is another day, and tomorrow there will be legitimate news and entertaining news. Today was not unlike any other, this is just the world we live in.