Is Facebook making you miserable?

Social media is no longer the sole stomping ground of younger generations. Parents check on their kids. Foodies swap recipes. Our community mixes with likeminded peeps. Your Nan probably has her own fan page.

Facebook endorses a type of feelgood spin doctoring, promoting the unattainable, replacing real contact with the world. We’re inundated with images of our ‘friends’ basking in the sun, cocktails in hand, enjoying life. The much awaited ‘dislike’ button doesn’t exist for a reason — Facebook encourages the pursuit of life in a quixotic digital bubble.

‘Landing in Ibiza, the sunset is gorgeous,’ the DJ/promoter/performer/model/super-being posts, attracting a host of ‘likes’ and sycophantic remarks.

The reality, however, is most of us don’t live like this.

We want others to think we do. Online, we can be almost anyone. A geeky troll with a quick wit can be Kim Kardashian — only funnier. We’re wearing Armani, drinking Frangelico, dancing to Gaga with a bevy of beautiful boys. We’re fabulous seven days a week. We’re 24/7 glam.

Certainly on Facebook, there a competiveness about who can lead — and publicise — the best life. Happiness has become a commodity. We use our favourite pics, usually photoshopped or outdated, we tell others what we want them to hear.

Status updates about ordinary or unfortunate realities have no place here. Yes, take your depressing life elsewhere, you sad gronk.

And yet the irony is many of us are hiding behind a screen, our social skills abating at a rate of knots, isolated from society, so busy telling people how happy we are, we’re forgetting how to just be happy.

Don’t get me wrong. I love social networking. Recently, I’ve been spending more time on Twitter. I figure at least from my phone, I feel like I’m wasting less time captivated by this warm and fuzzy world I should apparently aspire to be a part of.

The egocentricity of Facebook still amuses me. I’m not a name-dropper, but you can imagine how absurd it is to me that the fabulous nobodies often seem more egoistic than some of the real celebs.

Many still spend hours glued to Facebook, anguished by an underlying regret they’re not amongst it all. The whole point is to make us all feel popular. Longer-term, the results could be quite the opposite. There are hordes of studies revealing some pretty alarming stuff about online addiction.

I guess it’s about balance. Social media can be an awesome tool. But do you spend your ‘life’ on Facebook? Is Facebook making you miserable?

Not to worry, I’m sure there’s an app for that.

info: Don’t forget to follow SSO at @star_observer and Damien @damientweeting