It almost makes me want to cry that I have to tell adults this, but I suppose this is where we are now.
It’s nice that you want people to have a high opinion of you. To a degree, you should. Life is somewhat easier when people actually like you. But if you’ve gotten to a point where you’re worried that those around you are going to think less of you because you can’t go on glamorous trips or don’t have all of the newest, fanciest crap, you maybe need some therapy, and you definitely need better friends and a whole lot less social media. Image-obsessed people are faking vacations with professional photo editing
Looking to live the glamorous, well-traveled life, and stir envy among your Instagram followers, but can’t afford it? Well now you can have a photo of yourself digitally altered to make it seem like you can.
A Nebraska-based photo-editing service named Fake A Vacation lets users send in snapshots to have them superimposed onto fake backgrounds. Options include a sandy beach in Maui, the rushing waters of Niagara Falls, even the Grand Canyon at sunset.
It may seem like a joke service, but lying about travel is a far more common practice than you may think.According to a study released Wednesday that surveyed over 4,000 American adults over 18, flight cost-comparison Jetcost concluded that 14 percent of respondents fibbed to others about their flashy vacations. Ten percent of that pool even went the extra mile to post a fake on social media.
The reason? Participants claimed they felt embarrassed and wanted to impress others — such as the parents of their friends or partners, and colleagues.
But there are other reasons.
“They fake it … sometimes because the actual vacation is too expensive, so they plan this way or sometimes they do it to get others envious,” says Tom Eda, who leads marketing and support for Fake A Vacation, adding that others have purchased faux vacation pics because they had to cancel their trip last-minute.