Women consistently lie on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter to make their lives appear more exciting, a survey has found.
Researchers found that at least one in four women exaggerated or distorted what they are doing on social media once a month.
The survey of 2000 women found they mostly pretended to be out on the town, when in fact they are home alone, and embellished about an exotic holiday or their job.
The most common reasons for women to write “fibs” included worrying their lives would seem “boring”, jealousy at seeing other people’s more exciting posts and wanting to impress their friends and acquaintances.
Psychologists suggested that as people attempt to “stay connected” on social media, they can in fact “paradoxically” be left “more isolated”.
They also said that the “more we try to make our lives seem perfect, the less perfect we feel”.
According to the OnePoll survey, one third of women surveyed admitted to “dishonesty” on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter at some stage.
Almost one in four admitted to lying or exaggerating about key aspects of their life online between one and three times a month while almost one in 10 said they lied more than once a week.
Nearly 30 percent of women lied about “doing something when I am home alone”, almost a quarter overstated their alcohol consumption while one in five were not truthful about their holiday activities or their jobs.
Almost one in five women even lied about their “relationship status”.
“We work very hard presenting ourselves to the world online, pretending and attempting to be happy all the time which is exhausting and ultimately unfulfilling,” said Dr Michael Sinclair, a leading British consultant psychologist.
“Omitting the less desirable imperfections of our lives from the conversations with our 'friends' online leads to less opportunity to feel empathised with, resulting in a greater sense of disconnection from others.”
The survey was commissioned by Pencourage, a new anonymous “diary-style” social media website.
一項調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn),女性總愛在Facebook或Twitter這樣的社交網(wǎng)站上說謊,把自己的生活描述得比實際更精彩。
研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn),至少四分之一的女性每個月會有一次在社交媒體上夸張或扭曲地談?wù)撟约鹤龅氖隆?br />
這項涵蓋了2000名女性的調(diào)查發(fā)現(xiàn),她們大多假裝自己到市中心去玩樂,而事實上她們卻獨自在家待著,而且還喜歡把一次異域風情的假日或自己的工作加以美化。
女性愛在社交網(wǎng)站上編寫“謊言”最常見的原因有擔心自己的生活看上去會顯得“單調(diào)乏味”,在看到他人上傳的精彩內(nèi)容時感到嫉妒,想引起自己的朋友和熟人的注意。
心理學(xué)家們指出,在人們試圖通過社交媒體“保持聯(lián)系”的同時,事實上他們反而會變得“更孤立”。
心理學(xué)家們還說“我們越想讓自己的生活顯得完美,我們就感到越不完美”。
根據(jù)OnePoll公司的調(diào)查,三分之一的被調(diào)查女性承認某些時候會在Facebook和Twitter這樣的社交網(wǎng)站上“說謊”。
近四分之一的女性承認每個月會有一到三次在社交網(wǎng)站上謊報或夸張地描述自己生活的某些主要方面,近十分之一的女性稱她們每周在社交網(wǎng)上說謊超過一次。
近30%的女性獨自在家時會謊稱自己在做某事,近四分之一的女性會夸大自己喝的酒量,五分之一的女性沒有據(jù)實描述自己的假日活動或工作。
近五分之一的女性甚至會謊報自己的“感情狀態(tài)”。
英國知名心理學(xué)顧問邁克爾·辛克萊博士說:“我們努力地把自己呈現(xiàn)給網(wǎng)上的世界,假裝自己一直都很開心并盡力保持這一狀態(tài),這不但讓人精疲力竭,而且最終會讓人感到空虛。
“在和線上‘好友’的談話中,把生活中不那么如意的不完美部分省去,這會減少我們產(chǎn)生共鳴的機會,從而導(dǎo)致與他人更大的隔絕感。”
該調(diào)查由Pencourage網(wǎng)站委托開展,這是一家新的匿名 “日記體”社交網(wǎng)站。