The increasing pressure to exaggerate your happiness on social media

Pictures of people wearing the best dresses and looking unbelievably good can be found all over social media. If you consider these pictures and posts, you might be led to think that the world is a happy place, where everyone is full of life.

On social media, people are quick to show off the elegance of their new outfit. Most people believe that if you get a new dress or a fresh pair of footwear, then you have a good material for a new Facebook profile picture and you only have to share pictures of your new outfit, so people on the internet would see it.

If you attended an exciting event or you visited a luxurious place, you have to take a picture and post on Facebook for the world to know that it happened. It is the same trend for relationships as well. You post pictures of your lovely dates and outings on Instagram and Facebook for the world to see how thrilling the experience is/was.

Posting a picture of yourself and your gorgeous looking date partner on the internet is a good way to show the world your excitement about the date.

However, some people go to extremes with their social media posts. These people post pictures of things they wish they had on social media, in a way that leads people to believe that they actually have those things. For instance, a man who has no car could pose as the owner of a Benz with his Facebook picture post. Such misleading posts are common on social media and that's why you do not have to search long to find something to covet. My advice for you is to be careful, not all that glitters is gold.

It has happened too many times where you see someone been accused of living a fake life on social media, especially the celebrities. Recently popular actress Oge Okoye was in the news for the wrong reason when she posted pictures of Kenya Moore's puppies, claiming they are hers.

The 'normal' thing turned ugly when Kenya Moore exposed Oge. The mockery that ensued forced Oge to go on an hiatus. This was still being discussed when Kcee, an artiste many believes has a limitless source of funding, was called out for showing off what isn't his on social media. No one would have thought that multi-talented celebrity, Bow Wow would do something similar until he did.

He gave an impression that he was flying private, while he was actually in a commercial plane. It was another social media user who was in the same plane as Bow Wow that exposed him. While the world now knows the obsession of these stars with fictitious lifestyles, there are a lot of other stars still in this practice, who are yet to be exposed. Yet these are the stars that people look up to, living lives that doesn't exist on social media.

It would be wrong to think that only celebrities live fake lifestyles on social media. Even people who are not TV stars want the world to see them as one. They want to appear richer than they are; they want to look happy when in fact their gloom grows.

Because the world is always watching, they'd pose to have what they cannot afford. These people live two lives; the real life and the social media life. Usually, the social media life is the richer one, the one that can afford the luxuries of life. It is on this premise that people on social media look to be happily married or dating, when in reality some are in abusive relationships.

This is why you see someone post pictures of happy moments with his/her partner today, only to hear tomorrow that the same person has been suffering from domestic violence for years. The problem now is, how does the society tackle social vices such as domestic violence, when majority of its victims appear to be as happy as a new bride on social media?

The bragging culture is so pervasive on social media these days, that it is difficult to see the true societal happenings from there. A lot of lies are hidden in the truths on social media. This is why I recommend that just as you should not be faking a life on Facebook, Instagram or Snapchat, you should also be careful not to covet everything you see out there.

What you see just might be a non-existent life, created by someone who is not so proud of his/her life. Do not let yourself be pressured by someone else's fake pose for the world. Enjoy the life that you have, strive for a better one, you don't have to fake it.Written by Ibironke Oluwatobi

Ibironke Oluwatobi is a writer and a reader. His interests lie in the niche of entertainment and socio-politics. The first piece he pushed himself to write was an unsent love letter. His greatest earthly inspiration is Hip-Hop. Reach me on or @ibironketweets