If You Can't Be Happy, Would You Settle For Looking Happy?

I was reading this article on the Freakanomics blog and the following sentence, in particular, got me thinking:

"You know, on Facebook, some people can’t stop posting self-taken photos of themselves looking beautiful, as if that’s going to impress anyone."

Not only did that observation resonate with me in general, but it reminded me of how a certain type of person always seems to surround himself or herself with joyous family shots despite the fact that they're actually not very good at being happy together. I've known a few extreme examples of this over the years, and the galleries that they've created in their homes were really quite sad in their anti-Dorian Gray way. I've never been a big one for photos, myself (other than on vacation, when you're seeing sights you might not ever get back to). I guess for some, it's a variation on the Billy-Crystal-as-Richardo-Montalban skit: "It's better to look good than to feel good!" Or maybe that illusion of happiness is simply the closest they can ever get to it with any regularity.