College move-in is upon us. The Target ads have been flowing for weeks. The final goodbyes are being said. The car is soon to be packed.

And on top of all this, the pictures are about to be uploaded. Facebook. Instagram. Twitter. All those Snapchats.

Move-in day before and afters. Dorm decor. Heartfelt family goodbyes. Orientations. New friends. New food. Classes. Parties. Independence. Artsy relaxation scenes.

It will feel like all your other friends are having the time of their lives. But chances are, they aren't.

It's easy to convince yourself that people who always have a party to go to or a friend to sit with at lunch are having a good time. The grass is always greener on the other side, though. The people who went to school knowing others are hanging out together, and you kind of wish you could be there. The people who went away to school are meeting a new person every 20 minutes, and you kind of wish you could be there.

And we're all going to post pictures of everything we are doing to reassure everyone else that we wouldn't wish to be anywhere but exactly where we are. We're only fooling ourselves.

Social media does great things for us, but it also does really terrible things. Social media has us believing that everyone else is having a great time, so we have an obligation to have a great time, too. Not for our own well-being, but for the sake of our timelines.

It happens everywhere, in every stage and walk of life, but it becomes quite prominent in college. We feel the need to belong, the need to put forth the image everyone else expects.

In reality, the kid that parties every night is transferring. The kid that has made friends with everyone does, in fact, eat lunch alone. The kid who appears to love it all is just as stressed as everyone else.

We define our standards by how they stack up to everyone else's when we don't even know what their standards actually are. Perception will never be reality, and reality generally is not accurately understood by mere perception.

If we want to know how someone is doing, we have to call them. Text them. Email them. Talk to them. A photo is worth a thousand words, but the words someone utters are limitless.

They always say not to believe everything you see on the Internet.

They're not having as much fun as you think they are. Be the person to find out why.