Anna Turner: Baring your soul in a tweet | Canterbury Opinion | Local Voices from Canterbury, New Zealand

A group of us girls went out for a drink the other night, when we started discussing a mutual acquaintance's Tweets (or Twitter updates for the uninitiated).

They were of the usual inane kind - "Snuggled up in bed watching a movie with my gorgeous boo, love you baby", "Just stuffed my face with baking, diet time!" - that you'd see on any 20-something's page.  

"Why does she think people should care so much about her life?" my friend suddenly burst out.  

It was a fair point.   Social media is creating a generation of attention-seeking narcissists.  

Do we really need to know that you had beans on toast for breakfast or that your baby just used his potty for the first time? 

  I once went to they gym and spotted someone I'd vaguely known from high school across the room. They didn't look up so I carried on with my workout and forgot about it. When I got home I switched on my computer, and found they'd sent me a friendship request on Facebook.    

What makes it okay to ignore someone in person, but then add them online? Surely the definition of a friend is someone you'd say "hi" to on the street.

  Instead, the online world is a perverse social competition wrapped in the pretence of "keeping in touch."   Look how thin I am, see how great my job is, revel in the fact my boyfriend is cuter than yours.  

I'll admit it, I have been guilty of such behaviour in the past. Everyone has an old friend or ex-boyfriend online you haven't seen for years that you want to impress. 

 While I'm at it I may as well also admit I've done my fair share of online stalking (though I seem to have stumbled into a career where intense research of individuals online is actually appreciated.)  

But there comes a point when you've got to realise, it's all fake. As we reporters know well, in a world of Photoshop and exaggeration, nothing online can be trusted without further investigation. Anyone who is truly enjoying their life is not sitting at the computer constantly updating their status.  

With all that in mind, I'm going to switch off the computer now and I'm not going to tell you what I'm off to do.