I used a fake pic on a dating website!

Dear Advice Girl,

You know all those dating websites? Well, I put real stuff up about my personality, but then it asks you to put up a photo. The problem is, first, I can’t add my real image and second, my parents won’t let me.

So, if I put up a photo of some girl and the guys try to get to know me, do you think they’ll be disappointed if they find out I don’t look like that? All my friends say I look great and really I do, but I can’t use my real picture and I think many boys would be disappointed to find out I’m lying to them. PLEASE HELP!!!

Signed,
   Mel

Dear Mel,

Oh, come on. Quit making up silly excuses for why you put up a fake pic. Lots of people don’t have digital pics of themselves, so they’ll either just leave the photo spot blank, or put up an avatar or some other pic that represents their personality. Which is a smart thing to do – especially if you want to protect your privacy, or if you have really protective parents, or if you're only playing online for fun.

But putting up a fake pic is lying. And lying is bad. It makes fools out of the nice boys who are flirting with you, and it’s a ticking time bomb just waiting for someone to find out the truth. Plus, even though it might seem like no big deal, it’s actually damaging to your self esteem. It'll make you doubtful of a lot of the positive attention you get from boys, both online and in real life. (Sounds heavy, but really, it’s true.)

For all those reasons (and also just because lying makes baby Jesus cry), take down the fake pic already, Mel. Replace it with a pic of your Converse or something.