Confessing a foul-up the FMyLife way

Samantha Palileo

Your sister putting mayonnaise in your shampoo bottle. That text message you sent to the wrong person. Your dog really eating your homework. We all have those horror stories.

Whenever you have a bad day, just type “FML.”

FMyLife.com is a popular online forum where embarrassing moments are posted for the whole world to read.

And yet, with the option to not use your real name, that same anonymity still exists.

“Anonymity enables us to (share these stories) without?being ‘found out’,” FMyLife.com moderator Alan Holding said.

But unlike a journal, readers from around the world are allowed to vote that they “agree, your life sucks,” or its opposite, “You deserved it.”

Mark Stoner, professor of communication studies, believes that the inclination to share these stories is part of a personal quest for belonging.

“It’s a way for people to create a presence of self in a kind of isolated environment,” Stoner said.

Readers of the site log on to peek into the often tragic but always hilarious misfortune of the contributors. This relationship brings the FMyLife community together.

Stoner also said that vanity plays a large part in the allure of such public disclosure.

“People essentially hope that what they say or do will be viral and gain them some fame,” he said.

Joyce Mikal-Flynn, professor of brain and gender-related differences, thinks that expressing these embarrassing stories is like coming clean to a priest about things that we have done wrong.

The need to share these embarassing stories is therapeutic.

“It is much like confession; it’s cleansing,” Mikal-Flynn said.

But this website provides more than just sealing the wounds of failures past. FMylife is an outlet for humor and entertainment.

And in a strange and sadistic yet humorous and comforting way, FMyLife.com brings people together.

Comments made by readers are full of encouragement. The entire web community seems like one big family.

And you can’t spell family without FML.

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