Facebook boasters more likely to be in rocky relationships

This couple might not be as happy as they look in this photo. (Franckreporter/Getty)

This couple might not be as happy as they look in this photo. (Franckreporter/Getty)

Before you let yourself ooze with jealousy over your friend who’s always posting photographs of herself lovingly gazing into her boyfriend’s eyes, consider the results of a new study published in the journal Personality and Social Psychology.

Researchers found that on days “when people felt more insecure about their partner’s feelings, they tended to make their relationships visible” — i.e., publish that image of themselves with their lover embracing in a Venice gondola or post that Throwback Thursday image of themselves on their wedding day. What’s more, insecure, anxious people in general were more likely to boast about their relationship on Facebook.

In other words, there’s no reason to turn green with envy because that happy couple on Facebook could easily be unhappy.

“I wasn’t really surprised by the results, but I think the findings are interesting,” says one of the study’s authors, Lydia Emery, a graduate student in the Ph.D. program at Northwestern University in Illinois.  “People can choose what image of themselves to convey on Facebook, so it’s intriguing that people seem to emphasize their relationships in that image when they’re feeling insecure about them.”

The psychology of Facebook is fascinating. Studies have shown that people often feel depressed after going onto the social media site because they’re overcome with feelings of jealousy after looking at dozens of images of people doing fun stuff — dancing the Macarena at a wedding, swimming in a waterfall in a tropical jungle, drinking beers with friends on a rooftop bar at sunset. Holed up at home on a Friday night browsing the Internet, they feel as if their lives are boring and uneventful.

But this study is indicating that maybe your friend who posted an image of himself eating garlic fries with his girlfriend at the ballpark isn’t really happy? And so we’re envious of people’s happiness that isn’t even real? Maybe we should all spend a little less time on Facebook and more time face to face with people. That friend who’s posting rapid-fire photos of herself could probably use a hug.

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