Maryam Shehu

Why Do People Live Fake Life On Social Media

Fake life has become a norm for so many people in recent times. A lot of people pretend to be what and who they are not. Before the advent of social media, the rate of people living fake life was relatively low compared to the number of people living fake life both on social media and in real life. There are many reasons why people live fake life on social media and from my personal observation, I found three reasons why people fake it on social media;

1. Pressure to fit in the society: when people are not doing well for themselves as much as they think people on social media are doing, they tend to fake it. They act like they have already made it and are living their dream life. They pretend to be living a happy life where as in real life, they are sad. Some are even depressed.

2. Peer pressure: most times when people see their mates doing better than them in life, they start to feel inferior. The fear of being looked down at by their peers would make them act like they are doing very well for themselves.

3. Comparison and Competition: as humans , we tend to compare ourselves to others. We all do it. Social media is a perfect place to outdo your competition. All we have to do is to post pictures and videos of ourselves in nice places and people would naturally think that we are well to do. We do this to feel better about ourselves and make people believe that we are living a life that other people envy.

Regardless of the many reasons why people live fake life be it on social media or in real life, faking it is never the right thing to do. Faking it has a lot of repercussions and consequences. It can drive potential helpers away. People who have the ability to help you become successful will see you and think that you are doing fine just like them, some would even think you are doing better than them.

When you fake it, you tend to lie a lot. You lie about having things you do not have and when you tell a lie, you will need to tell more lies to cover it up so you don’t get caught.

I know there is a popular quote that says “fake it till you make it” but the quote does not mean faking it in the literal sense. It is mainly encouraging us to visualise our goals and not to live a fake life. I would implore us all to be real, to embrace and accept ourselves for who we are and if there’s something we want, we should strive to get it and not pretend to have it.

Love

Maryam

maryamshehu

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25 responses to “Why Do People Live Fake Life On Social Media”

  6. Amazing piece as always , the best part of your article was the part of “fake it till you make it “ which has been abused by people saying “live a fake life till you make it “, thank you for clarifying the essence of living a truthful life, accepting who we are and making our dreams come through with whatever we have , no matter how little , how bad and how impossible it may seem . Thank you .
    Temilade .

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  9. Thank you, I’ve fallen pray to this with envy and the proximity affect, really great post, cheers.

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  12. Great post! I recently left social media due to the incessant toxicity and shameless comparison games. My Instagram. Was originally supposed to be a channel to my blog, but seriously, that world is dangerous. I wish more people would leave but it is addicting, so I can see why so many people struggle to do so. I even wrote a blog post about why I left (https://secondgendesi.com/note-on-mental-health/) so people can realize that yes, you don’t need social media 😂

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    • I guess we cannot completely eliminate the use of social media as it has it’s own advantage(s). But we can choose how we use it in a positive and productive way.

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