Why women constantly lie about life on Facebook
Women consistently lie on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter to make their lives appear more exciting, a survey has found.
One third of women surveyed admitted to 'dishonesty' on social media sites such as Facebook Photo: ALAMY
3:45PM GMT 12 Mar 2013
Researchers found that at least one in four women exaggerated or distorted
what they are doing on social media once a month.
The survey of 2000 women found they mostly pretended to be out on the town,
when in fact they are home alone, and embellished about an exotic holiday or
their job.
The most common reasons for women to write “fibs” included worrying their
lives would seem “boring”, jealousy at seeing other people’s more exciting
posts and wanting to impress their friends and acquaintances.
Psychologists tonight suggested that as people attempt to “stay connected” on
social media, they can in fact “paradoxically” be left “more isolated”.
They also said that the “more we try to make our lives seem perfect, the less
perfect we feel”.
According to the OnePoll survey, one third of women surveyed admitted to
“dishonesty” on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter at some
stage.
Almost one in four admitted to lying or exaggerating about key aspects of their life online between one and three times a month while almost one in 10 said they lied more than once a week.
Nearly 30 per cent of women lied about “doing something when I am home alone”, almost a quarter overstated their alcohol consumption while one in five were not truthful about their holiday activities or their jobs.
Almost one in five women even lied about their “relationship status”.
“We work very hard presenting ourselves to the world online, pretending and attempting to be happy all the time which is exhausting and ultimately unfulfilling,” said Dr Michael Sinclair, a leading British consultant psychologist.
“Omitting the less desirable imperfections of our lives from the conversations with our 'friends' online leads to less opportunity to feel empathised with, resulting in a greater sense of disconnection from others.”
The survey was commissioned by Pencourage, a new anonymous “diary-style” social media website.
Almost one in four admitted to lying or exaggerating about key aspects of their life online between one and three times a month while almost one in 10 said they lied more than once a week.
Nearly 30 per cent of women lied about “doing something when I am home alone”, almost a quarter overstated their alcohol consumption while one in five were not truthful about their holiday activities or their jobs.
Almost one in five women even lied about their “relationship status”.
“We work very hard presenting ourselves to the world online, pretending and attempting to be happy all the time which is exhausting and ultimately unfulfilling,” said Dr Michael Sinclair, a leading British consultant psychologist.
“Omitting the less desirable imperfections of our lives from the conversations with our 'friends' online leads to less opportunity to feel empathised with, resulting in a greater sense of disconnection from others.”
The survey was commissioned by Pencourage, a new anonymous “diary-style” social media website.
