A person’s digitally constructed and maintained identity, whether purposefully or unintentionally, that materially distorts, exaggerates, or obscures key aspects of their real identity, appearance, lifestyle, achievements, or social status. A false digital image is a strategy of self-presentation in the digital environment, based on a significant discrepancy between virtual and real identity, which serves as a tool for obtaining social or economic capital, but often leads to negative psychological consequences for both the creator (internal conflict, anxiety from the need to constantly maintain the created image) and the consumer (low self-esteem, distorted expectations from life). It is a product of the symbiosis of the human need for acceptance and the architecture of social platforms that encourage the display of idealized versions of oneself. This image is created through:
1) Selective self-presentation: publishing only carefully selected, edited and idealized content (photos, videos, texts);
2) Direct distortion of facts: the use of filters, Photoshop, borrowing other people’s photos or stories, false statements about one’s status, profession, lifestyle;
3) Narrative creation: the formation of a cohesive, but not true, story about oneself through posts, stories, comments.
From a psychological point of view, such behavior reflects a person’s desire to escape from reality or create the appearance of confidence in receiving public recognition.