I never wanted you to believe my life is what you see on social media (please help me make my son understand this)

Let me get this straight. I adore social media.

Facebook keeps me in touch with my family and friends in Italy and around the world, and it does it so much better that 'just a phonecall'. And althought it doesn't serve as a substitute for someone's presence, and, when we are talking about my mum and my best friends, I DO NEED that phonecall, it does its job wonderfully.

Twitter actually gives me the opportunity to talk to people I would never have met otherwise, and we discuss sports, tech, music, although we will probably never see each other.

And Instagram, hey, it's a place where someone can post photos of a hedgehog and have over 15K followers, what's not to love and study (seriously) about that.

But lately, my public instagram account is getting LOTS of messages, especially from young people, talking about how wonderful my life IS, and how I am constantly travelling and doing amazing things. Don't get me wrong, I do travel. My family is scattered between Milano and Sassari, my sister lives in Paris. I do travel for work. But last summer, I took the first 15days holiday in FOUR YEARS. And yes, in the evenings I do have aperitivi whilst my 8yo plays minecraft... But do you know what's the truth behind those instagram photos?

Life is.

Piles of laundry, bags for hot yoga, cats, correspondence to take care of during the weekend, spaghetti. A house which I desperately try to keep tidy, but inevitably reduces itself like this every 4-5 days.

THIS is the truth. Behind every post like this:

There are filters, and 10s of 'wrong' photos with silly faces, makeup, hair, outfit planning, and the bathroom wall of a freezing cold gym which was supposed to be the changing room for a national pinup contest, and doesn't even have drinking water, dressing tables, or electric plugs for your hair curler.

I honestly didn't believe anyone would think my photos are an exact mirror of my life. They don't even cover 10% of it, and the rest is not there, because why would you want to know about my washing up, my excel files, the baby rats my cats bring me for breakfast, the times I look like this?

The web is so full of stuff about social media not being REAL etc, some examples are here and here. But the point for me is that they all encourage you to quit social media and dedicate yourself to "living life", and really don't think today's teenagers will ever do that. They were born into social media, it is within them to use this tools to communicate and connect.

Plus, it IS fun (well, for me at least) to take those pics and be on those platforms!

So the question stands. How do we make the most of these amazing tools, and teach our children to do so, without making them think they have to change their lives, or match life standards which are unreal and unrealistic?

Because I haven't yet managed to convince my 8yo that BeckBroJack and Pat and Jen don't just play video games for a living (although, in fact, they might), so if any of you has an answer, do PM me.