Status Update: Everyone Else's Life Is More Exciting

Remember those holiday letters, the ones informing you of all the exciting things your friends did while you sat at home? Facebook brings you that jealousy 24/7, writes Patricia Beauchamp in the Washington Post. While she’s “wondering how much she could get for a box of gaucho pants on eBay,” her friends are skydiving, closing deals with ABC, and “packing for a trip to the international space station.”

Nowadays, we don’t have to wait until the next high school reunion to see just how much better off all our friends are. “We have access to our friends' photos, videos, and correspondence—most everything but their tax returns.” It’s enough to make you consider “plagiarizing other people's Facebook updates so your life won't seem so pathetic—which is, sadly, even more pathetic.”
(More Facebook stories.)