Is everyone else happier than you?
Or is it just a Facebook thing?
According to Slate, it is.
Misery has more company than people think, says Dr. Alex Jordan, social psychologist and co-author of a research study on the subject of moods. “If we only wanted to be happy it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, which is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.” Jordan contends.
And social networking may be making this tendency worse. Especially Facebook.
Says Jordan, about Facebook: “We are playing with a new puppy. We are smiling in pictures (or, if we are moody, we are artfully moody.) Blandness will not do. And no one will “Like” your update that the new puppy died, but they may “Like” your report that the little guy was brave up until the end.”
Jordan advises us to view Facebook profiles as “something akin to the airbrushed photos on the covers of women’s magazines. No, you will never have those thighs, because nobody has those thighs. You will never be as consistently happy as your Facebook friends, because nobody is that happy.”
Hmph.
Bet you never thought you’d be so happy to hear that everyone else isn’t! 🙂
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What do you think about FB happy-ness?
Do you agree with this article?
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Sylver Blaque 
I don’t know why people put depressing things on facebook. Its like if you have nothing nice to say don’t say anything.
Thanks for your comment, Candi 🙂 Idk. I think sometimes people need emotional support they may not be getting in the real world. Or maybe FB is the only place they can speak honestly w/out real-world judgement or repercussion, you know?
I know a lot of people who post comments like the one above, almost word for word. So I comply and try to post positive things like many others and it’s too much work so I just don’t use FB much anymore.
It’s also a growing trend for employers, or anyone who wants to know about you, to look at your Facebook profile (I wonder if this will be incorporated into wedding courtships, in addition to surprise visits and scrutinizing the cleanliness of the house, why not also scrutinize a Facebook profile) to form an impression about you. So Facebook seems more like a personality resume where I should put my best foot forward and less like a place where I can be genuine and honest.
“Facebook seems more like a personality resume where I should put my best foot forward and less like a place where I can be genuine and honest.”
You’ve made a good point, here. I didn’t think about the fact that, along with your resume, employers take FB pages into consideration before hiring. I was surprised to learn from a number of email commenters that they or someone they knew had been passed over for or fired from a job based on benign (non-provocative in any way) items on their FB pages which the employers did not like or agree with.
I can totally understand your aversion to FB. Just as in the real world, extreme-p.c. is eroding honest exchange…
I am not even on Facebook. I mean I have a profile, like any respectable person 🙂 but I don’t even got there. Too much noise.
Sounds like you’re in a good place! 🙂
Hilariously true!
Right! 🙂
If you happy and you know it clap your hands *clap clap* 😉 I agree with this article 😉
Lol, clap, clap! I like that 🙂
OMG, this is SO true! Of course there are also the people who are constantly posting the doom and gloom… but generally, yeah. I was in a BIG down-swing this weekend, sobbing, in tears after a huge manic swing, but fb doesn’t seem to be the place to put that!
Oh Byn, I’m so sorry you bathed in weekend tears 😦 Sending you a big hug & REAL (not FB) happy vibes 🙂