I deactivated my Facebook account three years ago and haven’t been back since, aside from a few momentary logins to access third-party websites. I originally signed up to the social media site to keep up-to-date on the lives of my friends and acquaintances, but I found that the content being shared wasn’t true to reality. My feed was all rainbows and butterflies. Do I blame my former contacts for posting only the positive—house purchases, engagements, happy (never crying) babies—to their timelines? No. Updating your status after every spat with your significant other would raise eyebrows, and negative posts could affect your reputation and career. But Facebook is phoney, so I wanted no part in it. However, it turns out that those who brag about their lives online aren’t just omitting the letdowns and disappointments; negative experiences actually prompt them to gloss over the bad with happy photos and declarations of joy. In a recent study on online relationships, researchers found that people who post the most relationship-relevant information are the most insecure and anxious about their status as a couple, using Facebook to shape other people’s perceptions of them and their romantic lives. So next time you gag while perusing your Facebook feed, remember that those in-your-face couples might just be hiding a less-than-perfect existence.