Is it just me - or do you get fed up with reading stories about how happy everyone's life is on Facebook?
Everyday you look and you read things like "Perfect Weekend with my wonderful family".
"Happy Birthday to my lovely husband and daughter - love you both loads for ever and ever"
"Making chocolate cake before entertaining the family in our beautiful gardensurrounded by our lovely friends"
Hmmm - unless my own life is completely different to other people's - and I don't think for a minute that it is that far off - these elaborate perfect updates don't ring true.
This week, I have spent a lovely couple of days with my family in Newcastle. It was lovely to see them, it was my cousin's little girl's party and we met their neighbours and sat outside drinking as it was a lovely evening.
I was talking to one of the neighbours about Facebook and about people's perfect lives. I said that I could go on Facebook tonight and write
"Sitting in my cousin's beautiful garden on a lovely summer evening having fun with their friends - perfect!"
In the main that was the truth - we had had a lovely time.
But I could have added into that - have bickered on and off with my husband all week, am worrying about the amount of money we have spent over the last couple of weeks, feel fat and hate the fact that my too big boobs are becoming level with my too big belly, have got no clothes to wear that I like, my ironing pile is almost reaching the ceiling and am fed up that my term-time only job has been interfering with my holidays because I have been the main point of contact for a few people!
Minor irritiations in my otherwise perfect status but nevertheless they are there!
I like to think that I am quite an honest and straightforward person. I love my husband and I love my son. I have a job that I like and many friends. Many people would think that I am well placed to put perfect statuses on Facebook.
But I don't live with roses round the door and I dont believe that other people do either.
Why do people insist on making out that everything is so perfect? I remember when I had my son. He was an horrendous baby at first - suffered with colic badly and barely slept. Every night he would scream and scream - we were using Infacol like it had gone out of fashion and my husband and I were wrecks - physically and emotionally.
A friend of ours also had a baby at the same time as me. But in her camp life was very very different. She said that her baby was perfect , he slept through from a few weeks old, he never cried, she felt great and was back at her pre-baby weight. I felt like I was completely useless and I couldn't understand what I was doing wrong. Until the glorious day when we had run out of Infacol and were desperate. I sent my husband up to the 24 hour supermarket at one in the morning to buy some more.
Who did he meet? The boyfriend of my friend with the perfect baby!
It still makes me smile now - from that moment on I listened to nothing that she said. Anyone who is in a supermarket at one in the morning buying Infacol is as desperate as we were - and their life is far from perfect.
But I would bet a large amount to say that if Facebook was around in those days , that it would be her perfect life that was portrayed and not the real one.
Why are people ashamed to admit that things aren't 100% perfect, 100% of the time?
Real Life is not like a Facebook Status. Real Life can be very difficult, hard work and unfullfilling for most of the time - with the odd perfect day or perfect week thrown in.
I hear conversations all the time about things that drive them mad. .. quite often it is about the men in their lives and little issues that really do get on their nerves. Over glasses of wine it all comes out!
My website tells stories of people going through all kinds of far from perfect experiences. Lots of my friends are on anti-depressants - can't cope with the everyday stresses that busy, juggling lives bring.
Many of my friends worry about money - especially couples of my kind of age who took out plenty of credit when it was so freely available and now are stuck with rising interest rates on credit cards and loans and wishing that they had been a bit more careful. Few people are going on holiday this year, and few people's jobs are secure.
It is rare that you see statuses like this on Facebook. Unless of course a hugely personal family bereavement or marriage breakup has happened.
Forget ringing people up or visiting them to tell them what has happened - just update your Facebook status! People will know in minutes and you can comfort yourself with a bit of virtual sympathy!
However, perhaps the Facebook status is not about real life. Perhaps it is a way to escape real life. A way to cast aside your worries and let all your old school-friends that you havent heard from in years, or your old boyfriends that broke your heart over and over again that you are doing well - times are good and you have a bright and happy future.
For a few moments only , you can be the person you want to be and can dwell in the virtual world that is Facebook. Chat with old friends, take yourself back to times when you were young and carefree and convince you and others that life is as you describe it.
Or - you could be like me - and use the Facebook status only to countdown to the next school holiday when I can spend time with my lovely but not perfect son.
And when I have done that I can go and unload the dishwasher, load the washing machine, pick up the seven pairs of shoes that are lying around the hall that belong to my husband and son and go to the supermarket in my old KA and see what products are in the bargain bucket that day!