Social Network Sadness

Wedding © Natalia Martinez

From The Anti Social Network article in Slate:

The human habit of overestimating other people’s happiness is nothing new, of course. Jordan points to a quote by Montesquieu: “If we only wanted to be happy it would be easy; but we want to be happier than other people, which is almost always difficult, since we think them happier than they are.” But social networking may be making this tendency worse… By showcasing the most witty, joyful, bullet-pointed versions of people’s lives, and inviting constant comparisons in which we tend to see ourselves as the losers, Facebook appears to exploit an Achilles’ heel of human nature […] By helping other people look happy, Facebook is making us sad “…happiness is impersonal in a way that pain is not…”