It is my belief that there are two realities in life. The first is the reality we all grew up knowing: the reality that most people over 40 still know as 'reality'. Then there is the Facebook reality.
Let me introduce myself. I am 25 years old, British, tall slim, attractive enough, socially active, well educated, I have lived and worked abroad and I am the proud owner of a head full of happy memories. So why is it that when I sign in to my Facebook account I am bombarded with the lives of others and I sign-out feeling utterly dejected and miserable?

That is the facebook reality.

Is every one of my 142 friends really having more fun than me? Come to think of it, do I really have 142 friends? I am sure I received no more than 5 actual Christmas cards last year and I certainly don't launch into 142 choruses of "Happy Birthday" each year.
I look at my home page and wonder: Where was I when all of this fun was taking place? Why am I missing out? What's wrong with me?!
Of course the answer is simple: I was somewhere else doing something else; I am not missing out and there is absolutely nothing wrong with me.
I am just one of the few 20-somethings that doesn't justify their existence with photographic evidence of good times had. Although perhaps if I did I would feel better about myself.
What an awful thought.

I wonder if a good Facebook photo really is more important than a good personality and whether a witty status remark is proof of that personality.
Can a photograph and one sentence remark really be enough to sum up a person's entirety? I hope not.

So why is it that my generation needs to prove itself so? Behind those camera-ready poses and mirror-practiced pouts is there something lacking? Fear of letting the side down? Fear of being judged as socially unsuccessful?

I don't have the answer, of course. But I do know that I am hooked. I hate it but it is true. I go on fully aware that I will leave feeling sad and lonely and yet I can't stop myself.

My Facebook profile has photos on it, loving walls posts left by friends, e-gifts and gestures sent from profile to profile and I still sound like a cantankerous fool.

What I am trying to get at is that reality as we knew is fighting a losing battle and the Facebook reality is taking over.
Facebook is fantastic at giving an insight into the online reality around us, I am just not sure how real that reality is.

I guess it is like the saying: Never judge a book by its Facebook profile.

Learn more about this author, Nadine Skander.
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