We all have those friends who incessantly post Facebook pictures of themselves with their significant others. Yeah, they’re really annoying, but they might actually be happier than you are if you’re not doing the same, according to a recent study.
New research from UCSF published in Social Psychological and Personality Science found that people who post about their relationship constantly on Facebook are also more satisfied, secure – happy – in their marriages than those who don’t.
It makes sense. If you’re blissfully happy with your partner, you want to record and share everything you do together. If you’re not so happy, you distance yourselves from each other and don’t do much by way of “sharing” things, right?
But what about overcompensating? Could people who post about their relationship/marriage on Facebook constantly be putting on a show and hiding deeper problems? It’s possible, but less likely than you’d think.
“It makes sense that someone who’s happier with their life would post these kinds of pictures to show off their relationship,” said the study’s co-author. “But general life satisfaction and personality traits couldn’t account for our findings.”
Some highlights from the study:
- Three experiments were conducted among married Facebook users over the age of 18.
- Those who often posted a picture of themselves and their spouse as a profile picture were more likely to report being happy.
- Participants who reported higher levels of marital satisfaction and closeness were more likely to have had a profile picture featuring their spouse in the last year.
- Couples are more likely to post info about their relationship on Facebook on days they were feeling particularly happy about their partner.
Of course, there are downsides to heavy Facebook use, especially while in a relationship. A University of Missouri-Columbia report said that “individuals who use Facebook excessively are far more likely to experience Facebook–related conflict with their romantic partners.”
Do you frequently update your Facebook with pictures and posts about your spouse? Are you happy with your relationship and/or marriage? Sound off!
I am not one to share every detail of my life or relationship, so I do not share pictures constantly; but yes, I am very happy 🙂
I'm just not photogenic;).
My husband and I are not very photogenic and we are very happy…
Wow I never share anything about my husband and I, or myself alone… I just hate seeing myself in pictures. But we're happily married and I do share a lot about my son though, he's super cute 😉 LOL.
I do post about my husband and share pictures of us every now and then but I don't constantly fill my news feed with sappy messages about how much I love him and how happy we are. WE know we're happy and I don't feel like I have to put on a show for everyone else to see that. I feel like that's what a lot of people do when they're constantly putting up pictures and constantly talking about their significant other. I actually see that a lot of the time those same people that do that are the ones you see breaking up and posting about how horrible the other person is after they break up. It's not always a facade, but it is a lot of the time imo. Oh and its not that we don't take pictures, I just don't always share them on facebook ;).
Maybe maybe Not my husband and I are Happy and we don't post a lot of pic.s together.
Actually I find the kissing pictures don't mean anything but celebrating anniversaries yes.