Women consistently lie on social networking sites such as Facebook or Twitter to make their lives appear more exciting, a survey has found.
Researchers found that at least one in four women exaggerated or distorted what they are doing on social media once a month.
The survey of 2000 women found they mostly pretended to be out on the town, when in fact they are home alone, and embellished about an exotic holiday or their job.
The most common reasons for women to write “fibs” included worrying their lives would seem “boring”, jealousy at seeing other people’s more exciting posts and wanting to impress their friends and acquaintances.
Psychologists suggested that as people attempt to “stay connected” on social media, they can in fact “paradoxically” be left “more isolated”.
They also said that the “more we try to make our lives seem perfect, the less perfect we feel”.
According to the OnePoll survey, one third of women surveyed admitted to “dishonesty” on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter at some stage.
Almost one in four admitted to lying or exaggerating about key aspects of their life online between one and three times a month while almost one in 10 said they lied more than once a week.
Nearly 30 percent of women lied about “doing something when I am home alone”, almost a quarter overstated their alcohol consumption while one in five were not truthful about their holiday activities or their jobs.
Almost one in five women even lied about their “relationship status”.
“We work very hard presenting ourselves to the world online, pretending and attempting to be happy all the time which is exhausting and ultimately unfulfilling,” said Dr Michael Sinclair, a leading British consultant psychologist.
“Omitting the less desirable imperfections of our lives from the conversations with our 'friends' online leads to less opportunity to feel empathised with, resulting in a greater sense of disconnection from others.”
The survey was commissioned by Pencourage, a new anonymous “diary-style” social media website.
一项调查发现，女性总爱在Facebook或Twitter这样的社交网站上说谎，把自己的生活描述得比实际更精彩。
研究人员发现，至少四分之一的女性每个月会有一次在社交媒体上夸张或扭曲地谈论自己做的事。
这项涵盖了2000名女性的调查发现，她们大多假装自己到市中心去玩乐，而事实上她们却独自在家待着，而且还喜欢把一次异域风情的假日或自己的工作加以美化。
女性爱在社交网站上编写“谎言”最常见的原因有担心自己的生活看上去会显得“单调乏味”，在看到他人上传的精彩内容时感到嫉妒，想引起自己的朋友和熟人的注意。
心理学家们指出，在人们试图通过社交媒体“保持联系”的同时，事实上他们反而会变得“更孤立”。
心理学家们还说“我们越想让自己的生活显得完美，我们就感到越不完美”。
根据OnePoll公司的调查，三分之一的被调查女性承认某些时候会在Facebook和Twitter这样的社交网站上“说谎”。
近四分之一的女性承认每个月会有一到三次在社交网站上谎报或夸张地描述自己生活的某些主要方面，近十分之一的女性称她们每周在社交网上说谎超过一次。
近30%的女性独自在家时会谎称自己在做某事，近四分之一的女性会夸大自己喝的酒量，五分之一的女性没有据实描述自己的假日活动或工作。
近五分之一的女性甚至会谎报自己的“感情状态”。
英国知名心理学顾问迈克尔•辛克莱博士说：“我们努力地把自己呈现给网上的世界，假装自己一直都很开心并尽力保持这一状态，这不但让人精疲力竭，而且最终会让人感到空虚。
“在和线上‘好友’的谈话中，把生活中不那么如意的不完美部分省去，这会减少我们产生共鸣的机会，从而导致与他人更大的隔绝感。”
该调查由Pencourage网站委托开展，这是一家新的匿名 “日记体”社交网站。