The Facebook Facade

Everyone knows that one couple who loves to post their mushy, gushy, adorable relationship online for everyone to see.  Studies have found that these people are actually the most disliked people on Facebook (not surprisingly).  From pictures to wall posts these couples love to make sure their friends know they're in a great, happy relationship.  Interestingly enough however, studies show that these happy couples may not be as happy as their posts suggest.  A study posted in the Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin followed couples listen in relationships on Facebook and had them keep a journal for two weeks where they wrote down how secure they were feeling in their relationships and what Facebook posts they made that day.  The study found that these people shared more statuses, pictures and posts about their partner when they were feeling romantically insecure.  The study reveals that Facebook is actually a really poor predictor of a couples happiness and how they are actually feeling.  Couples actually use the social media site to keep track of their partner and reassure themselves of their relationship.  

I think that this extends to people posting in general.  Personally I have this one Facebook friend (a women I used to babysit for) who likes to post EVERY THING about her life.  She loves to post bragging posts that are masked so they don't actually seem like she's bragging.  Or she likes to check in to places and talk about all the cool stuff she's doing.  In my opinion, this too could be similar to a reassurance of insecurities - she needs people to always comment and like her posts.  All in all people just need to realize that no one is actually that interested in what you're doing (besides maybe your mom) and that instead of making it look like you're in a cute happy relationship, actually work on being in one off of social media sites.  The amount of time people spend on Facebook actually correlates with how happy they are.  So now that we all know the truth behind the sappy posts, couples like that better watch out!

http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/family/relationships/facebook-relationship-insecurity-study