Your Tweets are a Lie

I’ve been thinking a lot about what people post on social media because of a recent Facebook message I got from someone I went to Jr. High with. He admitted that he felt that everyone had these incredible lives whereas he was still struggling. It also happens that this friend would be classified as an “oversharer” on social media. I’ve scrolled past the numerous status updates about his job search to images of another friend’s #blessed vacation. The truth is, he didn’t know anything about my life and some of suboptimal moments not because they didn’t happen and not because we lost touch but because of something else — I didn’t post about it.

Maybe he’s just being more honest than the rest of us. I’m not entirely sure that is a bad thing after reading this article about the 80/20 rule of social posts — basically people think they know you 80%, but only 20% of what you post is true. Perhaps it’s less about people thinking they know you and more about the 80% of our lives that most of us omit.

I will admit to being a fan of lying by omission is this case — you can’t regret what you don’t post.

The Internet is forever, as we are reminded of time and time again when brands or celebrities fuck it up. We have all been guilty of thinking it’s our party and we can tweet what we want to. And we can, because we have the luxury of no one seeing it and being able to delete it. Probably.

The truth of it all is this: We are all only posting what we want people to see and how we want them to see it.