I was attending a social media workshop the other day when the trainer told the participants that studies have shown that people who regularly post selfies on social media have narcissistic tendencies. I wanted to raise my hand and ask if there were any studies conducted around people who post pictures where they look pretty and happy but I held myself back.

I am not an expert in psychology but I presumed that I knew the answer: We are a bunch of hypocrites who fake happiness in pictures!

Honestly, I'd rather see smiles than depressing statuses and motivational quotes that don't motivate, but the amount of pretense on social media is excruciating. It is like everyone is leading a parallel life: we have our regular life and then we have our life on social media, which is often a projection of what we wish our life would be.

Let's face it, people aren't always all what they "post" to be. We're constantly "filtering" what others can see and know and this has nothing to do with some kind of privacy policy. We filter our sadness, struggles, extra kilos, failures, boredom, depressions, shortcomings, etc. We cover them with big and happy smiles that can make anyone jealous...
We pretend to be successful when in real life we're unmotivated and frustrated with ambitions that we can't fulfill.
We pretend to be the perfect parents when in reality we don't make time for our children.
We pretend to be a loving family when in real life we all talk behind each others' backs.
We pretend to be happily married when in real life, we're going through a painful divorce.
We pretend to fight for a cause but we've never set foot in any protest and we've never participated in any political or social movement.
We pretend to be patriotic but we've applied for immigration and are waiting for the first chance to leave the country.
We pretend to be rich when in reality we're almost broke and in debt.

I am not judging... We're all searching for validation and social media happens to be a good place for ego boosting but I'd rather practice my duck face and pose for a selfie and be labeled as a narcissist than lure people into thinking that all of my glitters is gold.