PURE EXUBERANCE

2012, Oil on Italian Linen, 100 x 100cm

Few on Twitter and Facebook are having a miserable time. While there is very little self-censorship going on before most posts are made, the one major editorial interjection that does occur is simply not posting the mundane minutiae that makes up the bulk of life. Because who wants to see - and become friends with – the boring? 

A recent study found that the more time college students spent on Facebook, the worse they felt about their own lives. Published in the Cyberpsychology, Behaviour and Social Networking Journal, the Utah Valley University study found that although it’s human nature to compare ourselves with others, ultimately this make us depressed.

Affecting teens and adults alike, the to-the-minute updates can provoke feelings of, literally, missing out on the party - especially after seeing party photos to which the viewer was not invited. While adults may be aware that many “friends” are trudging along in soul-crushing careers and leading unglamorous lives, experts find that people routinely over-estimate the happiness of others, which in turn provokes feeling of depression, anxiety and social envy.

Propaganda for a new millennium, the small, the normal and the ordinary gets lost in the noise of this ubiquitous PR mechanism where everyone’s persona sparkles brighter than it does in reality.