By Leeanne Griffin

Thanks to social networking platforms like MySpace, Facebook and Twitter, it’s ridiculously easy to know what your friends and acquaintances are doing at all times. Updates provide real-time information from the life-changing (high school classmate had twins!) to the minutiae that you’d never talk about in person (Jen had Lucky Charms for breakfast! And they were GOOD! LMAO).

But then there’s the kind of website that highlights slices of everyday life in entertaining vignettes. Sometimes cringeworthy, sometimes mind-boggling, always uproarious, these sites are instantly addictive. Here’s a look at some of the best.

Texts From Last Night (www.textsfromlastnight.com)

Motto: “Remember that text you shouldn’t have sent last night? We do.”

Excerpt: (517): last night some b*tch put bruce along with his entire fishbowl in her purse and tried to leave. how drunk do you have to be to steal someone’s pet??

This site is the main reason why phones should have a mechanism to protect against drunk-dialing and texting. TFLN accepts user submissions of the best/worst/most horrifying texts, updating the site several times a day for maximum hilarity ~ or humiliation. Many posts are sexual in nature, so it’s not safe for work (or young eyes) ~ but TFLN has BlackBerry and iPhone applications for smart-phone viewing.

Best feature: You can search by keyword and/or area code. For example, if you need to know whether one of your under-the-influence messages made it to cyberspace, you can type “508 drunk” into the site search.

F My Life (www.fmylife.com)

Motto: “Get the guts to spill the beans.”
Excerpt: “Today, we went to the mall and my husband picked me out some perfume. When I asked him why he liked that particular one he responded with,’That’s what’s the stripper at my bachelor party was wearing.’ He was completely serious. FML”

If you ever think YOU’RE having a bad day, these people are having one much worse. F My Life (yes, the F is exactly what you think it is) is a one-stop shop for embarrassing and frustrating stories that somehow still come across as comical. Cringe over bad breakups, badly timed bodily functions and compromising positions and thank your lucky stars it didn’t happen to you.

Sh*t My Dad Says (twitter.com/shitmydadsays)

Motto: “I’m 28. I live with my 73-year-old dad. He is awesome. I just write down sh*t that he says.”
Excerpt: “My flight lands at 9:30 on Sunday…You want to watch what? What the f**k is ‘Mad Men’? I’m a mad man if you don’t pick me the hell up.”

They say as you get older, you appreciate your parents more and more. Justin lovingly records wise gems from his cranky, sharp-tongued father and posts the one-liners on Twitter for his (at press time) more than 315,000 followers. After reading just a few of the side-splitting quotables, you’ll wish Sam were your dad too.

STFU Marrieds (stfumarrieds.tumblr.com/)

Motto: “Married couples on Facebook with their inane status updates and wall posts are the bane of my internet existence. Seriously, marrieds. STFU.”

You will love this site if your Facebook news feed has ever been held hostage by “schmoopie” status updates or obsessive countdowns about upcoming weddings (“Only 24,192,000 seconds until I get married!”). STFU Marrieds accepts screenshots of these cyber-PDAs, with users’ commentary giving background on the annoying couples. The sicky-sweet lovey posts are appropriately irritating, but the shots of virtual fights (“Apparently my loving husband has been cheating on me with [Lori]”) are killer. This is a good one to read on Valentine’s Day, or during the height of wedding season if you’re dateless.

Bonus

People Of Wal-Mart (peopleofwalmart.com)

If you’ve ever shopped at Wal-Mart, this site needs no description whatsoever. Click away.