Humans can lie up to 200 times a day. A decision we sometimes don’t realize we make is whether to lie or tell the truth. They tell us “honesty is the best policy,” but sometimes “the truth hurts.” We find excuses to tell white lies in order to convince ourselves lying is okay. However, lying becomes a routine and is used frequently in our daily lives.

                One way we lie is through exaggeration. Have you ever been in that situation where sleep deprivation becomes a competition? For some reason we are compelled to lie about the amount of sleep we got. When a friend says they were up until one a.m. doing homework, we make up white lies to make us seem like we are cooler.

                Another type of lying we use is when texting someone annoying. Everyone has received a text message along the lines of, “Sorry, I gotta go,” or, “My phone died.” Usually that’s a lie. They simply don’t want to talk to you anymore.

                A third type of lying are the ones we use to avoid hurting others feelings. We say “You look fine,” or, “I like your hair,” when in reality we just say these things to avoid heartbreak.

                There are several other types of lies we use in our everyday life. The typical female is known for lying about her age and weight as a way of boosting self-confidence. A common internet lie that every age and gender lies about is the terms and conditions. When installing a new computer program, you have to check the box saying you have read and understand the terms and conditions. Everyone checks the box because you can’t advance without it, but nobody actually reads the terms and conditions.  A question you get asked on most days is, “How are you?” We immediately respond with our programed answer of, “I’m fine.” The truth is the person asking usually doesn’t care how you are doing and doesn’t want an honest response.

                In conclusion, our everyday lives include several routine lies. These lies range in several different categories including lies of exaggeration, the ones we use to avoid hurt feelings and in the ones we use in order to get rid of annoying people. We don’t realize how many lies we tell on a daily basis. How many of these lies have you told?