The Facebook fallacy

Anyone who follows me on facebook knows that I have a reputation for posting much-commented status lines. Perhaps sadly, fb status lines are the closest I come to composing poetry. I regularly have moments of inspiration in which status lines arrive perfectly (or almost perfectly) formed in my head. Sometimes – like in the case above – my mother or some clever friend will provide a gem, but otherwise, I have future status lines scribbled in notebooks and on the backs of envelopes, ready to be deployed when the timing is right.

I wonder sometimes what my status lines say about who I am and what I do. As much as they reflect my passion for words and my love of laughter, they are not an accurate reflection of how happy or sad I am on a given day. They are simply a moment of time, and not necessarily meaningful in any way.

I bring this up because I – and many people I know – sometimes make the mistake of thinking what happens on facebook is a realistic portrait of someone’s life. It’s not.

“Oh, so-and-so is married now. With kids. What a lovely time they apparently had in Cuba last winter. And in France the year before. Lots of comments on the wall – looks like they have an active social life, etc…“

Are these people happy? Healthy? Are mom and dad still employed? Do they argue? How are the kids doing?

Facebook isn’t telling.

I wouldn’t want to wish ill on anyone. I just merely want to underline the fact that you can’t know the full story with facebook. So you – yes, you – the one who’s obsessively checking your ex-boyfriend’s fb page in order to torture yourself with pictures of him sucking face with his new girlfriend? Stop it. Now!