12 Men And Women Admit Exactly How Their Social Media Feeds Deviate From Real Life

1. “I always post when I’m traveling for work and it’s true that I get to go to some great locations. However, the truth is that I could be staying exactly where I am for all the glamour that accompanies these trips. I literally fly there, go to meetings, go back to my hotel, and then get up in the morning to fly back home. It’s the absolute worst thing about my job but if you look at my Facebook it looks like I’m constantly getting to go on vacation.”

—Samantha, 31

2. “Years ago, I used to post pictures of awesome desserts I was eating. I’m pretty sure this gave the impression that I ate whatever I want, whenever I wanted when the truth was that I was struggling with an eating disorder. No one but my closest friends had a clue about it. I’ve recovered since then thanks to a lot of therapy and support but it’s so insane to think about how people were liking these pictures at the same time that I was purging the desserts out of my system.”

—Jackie, 25

3. “I post inspirational quotes when I’m feeling especially depressed. I’ve struggled a long time with depression off and on and I think people believe I’m just very cheerful and hopeful. I post the quotes to make me feel better, not because I feel great and want to help others feel great.”

—Mark, 27

4. “I post pictures of myself working out when I’m feeling especially fat.”

—Opal, 22

5. “Any picture you’ve seen of me with my baby daughter that’s cute was usually taken when she finally calmed down from an especially bad tantrum. I take these pictures so that I’ll remember her as a happy well behaved little girl instead of the absolute terror that she can be. Anyway, it makes motherhood look pretty great when sometimes it’s horribly frustrating.”

—Candice, 26

6. “I have a GoodReads account and share books on my feed. People think I’ve read these books and I generally let them think it. I don’t have time to read, really, but I used to read a lot and I guess it’s like wishful thinking. I still want people to think of me as a literary person even though the reality is that I’m not anymore.”

—Peter, 24

7. “This was in college but I used to post about unnamed boys who were trying to talk to me, starting drama, etc. There weren’t any boys.”

—Tanya, 24

8. “My aunt used to constantly lie about health problems she supposedly had. It became a cliche in the family when she would post up another ‘doctor update’ because we all knew that she was perfectly healthy typing up her fake medical conditions from her desk at her summer home on the North Carolina coast. Attention seeking doesn’t begin to describe it.”

—Maurice, 29

9. “I post selfies of myself at parties. It looks like I’m having a great time but if I’m taking a selfie it’s usually because I don’t have anyone to talk to. I have a lot of social anxiety and parties basically make me feel more alone than when I’m actually alone.”

—Nina, 23

10. “My ex-wife was the worst about this. She would post all these family photos and shit like ‘feeling so blessed today’ and ‘love my husband’. In the meantime, we were miserable and she was cheating on me.”

—Patrick, 29

11. “My cousin posted a pic of a brand new Mercedes on his feed and acted like it was his until his sister came along and said ‘that’s dad’s car’ in the comments. It was awesome.”

—Chris, 22

12. “The most liked post I’ve ever made on Facebook was of me and my ex-fiance smiling together at dinner. We’d been having problems for a while and he broke off our engagement two weeks later.”

—Ashley, 28