Ever fibbed on a Facebook status about what you really got up to that Saturday night? Or maybe you’ve Tweeted from “Bamboo” only for the reality to be that you’re eating cheese in bed and crying at The Help? Well, don’t bother taking a second to look long and hard in the mirror – evidence suggests you’re in good company.
According to new research published by lastminute.com, weekends are now something of a social battleground in which people compete for the best stories to tell at work on Monday morning, with social media used as a key weapon. The study revealed that one in five adults has confessed to making up stories on social media in order to appear more interesting, while many adults now spend more time on social media between Friday and Sunday than they do in the pub or having sex. Questionably, one in five – and almost twice as many women as men – envies other people’s social media life.
This casual embellishment of the truth is not limited to social media. Three percent of those surveyed admitted to slapping on fake tan in order to fool work colleagues into thinking that they’d had a trip away in the sun over the weekend, whilst one in ten have pretended that their partner surprised them with a romantic getaway. It was also found that some confessed to inventing “adventures” to talk about at work. Some of those polled actually went as far as admitting they had invented tales of stumbling upon a dinosaur skeleton at the weekend, going hiking naked and even spotted their boss at a nudist spot.
How has it come to this? According to the poll, four out of ten weekend liars make up these stories simply because they find their weekends unfulfilling. If this rings true, then perhaps it suggests that stepping away from the laptops and phones over the weekend could create some much needed perspective and bump up self-esteem again. In the meantime, one can only wonder if another study will follow investigating whether these findings have caused widespread trust issues.
[Floraidh Clement – @FloraidhCC]
qmunicatemagazine.com 