Is Social Media A Form Of Narcissism?

In “Impression Management in a Networked Setting”, the reading focuses on how people and mainly adolescents project a type of fade on social media sites. The author states how many young people today are sad, but when on Facebook only take happy looking selfies and hide their true feelings, so they can get more likes from friends. And even how your social media profile page can make a good, or bad impression for a future employer; forcing teens to be more warry about what pictures, videos and reshares that are on their profile page. In the book, it goes into the scenario that teenagers

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) offers infinite connections and the ability to express oneself to the world. But are these connections and images of self-based upon fact or fiction? Through selective self-presentation, people often present the “ideal self” instead of the “actual self” in the online environment to achieve the feeling of positive self-esteem. In “The Way We Live Now: I Tweet, Therefore I Am”, Peggy Orenstein writes of how her Twitter posts reflected an idealized version of her life. Two studies support the hypothesis that such editing can have a positive effect on personal self-esteem. “Mirror, Mirror on my Facebook Wall: Effects of Exposure to Facebook on Self-Esteem” by Amy Gonzales presents a study demonstrating

What is Narcissistic Personality Disorder? Narcissistic Personality Disorder (NPD) is a mental disorder where someone has an exaggerated sense of their own presence, a need for constant admiration from others and they also have a lack of empathy for anyone (Mayo Clinic). A couple questions I have include: How does social media effect society? How does social media have an effect on someone diagnosed with NPD, What are ways you can help someone with NPD, and what are some ways we can conclude that someone may have NPD on social networking sites? Social media is what’s hot right now and someone diagnosed with NPD will only get wrapped up in its web and will be negatively impacted by it. The main focus of my research to further my knowledge includes: The risk factors social media have on someone diagnosed with NPD, signs on social media of someone who may have NPD, and so on.

Millenials enjoy having a good self image, but more importantly, being accepted by society. These people use Facebook, and other social media sites, to look important and gain self-esteem by getting as many likes as possible on a photo. These photos posted could create an unrealistic portrait of that person, argues Soraya Mehdizadeh, but could this also be a way for people to express their identity, counters Alex Lambert? Soraya Mehdizadeh and Alex Lambert argue their reasons for why or why not social media may be narcissistic. It is a controversial subject because it can be hard to tell if this so called narcissism is a social norm now or if it is simply narcissism in itself. It is under psychological discussion because some psychologists argue it could be a disorder due to the fact that some people may be obsessed with social media and promoting a positive self image, so others think highly of them. Throughout the articles, the pros and cons of social media are weighted, and it seems that social media facilitates narcissisms because millenial’s are so prone to using it and older people only use it to keep connections with friends.

There is debate over these social networking sites; do the benefits outweigh the dangers? Some people argue that social networking sites promote increased communication with friends and family, familiarize people with valuable computer skills, and allow contact and interactions with people from around the world. Others argue that these sites expose children to predators, increase vulnerability to computer viruses, lower worker productivity, and promote narcissism and short attention spans. Social networking sites entice people to spend more time online and less time involved in face-to-face interaction. On an average day it is said that American’s waste about 17% of their day on the internet interacting on social media and networking sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace. The popularity of these sites has more than

Clarissa Silva article in the Huffington Post delves into social media’s impact on self-esteem. As a behavioral scientist, her interest in the matter relates to her field. She also gets the help of other experts Dr. Jennifer Rhodes, Natalia Lusinski, and Dr. Suzana Flores to help with her research. Silva states that “social media is linked to higher levels of loneliness, envy, anxiety, depression, narcissism and decreased social skills" (1). Then outlines her research findings using rhetorical appeals.

Just as Saruman's narcissism led him to joining Sauron, narcissism has led to the rapid proliferation of social media in society. Social media has been a source of contention and has ushered in many different issues. Social media

Communication barriers are not the only issue that has been brought on by social media. Extensive social media use has also been known to affect a person’s self-esteem. Some individuals suffer from a low self-esteem and limit themselves to social media in hopes to create a different image of them. According to Charles Cooley, “The thing that moves us to pride or shame is not the mere mechanical reflection of ourselves, but an imputed sentiment, the imagined effect of this reflection upon another's mind" (Morine, 2009). For some teens and young adults, social media may help them open up and achieve a higher self-esteem. On the other hand, social media on other teens and young adults may have a completely opposite effect. In an article titled, Is Facebook Making Your Child Depressed, it is stated that social media websites such as Facebook “can create a skewed reality that makes teens feel alienated” (PR, 2012). When a person, that is not completely happy with their life, goes onto social media and reads all about other people enjoying a multitude of activities and enjoying their lives this could

The purpose or hypothesis of this study addresses the anatomy of the Facebook network, communication behaviors and network composition, private messages and public communication, and the psychological implications of Facebook use.

There are two possible ways that the use of social networking sites can affect a person’s self esteem. According to a study conducted by Amy L. Gonzales and Jeffrey T. Hancock, Facebook helps amplify students’ level of self-esteem. They explained in their study that when people post something on their profile, they have the opportunity to filter the negative information that they would not like to be exposed, and only publicize the information that they consider as positive. By doing this, people can build an ideal image of themselves online, which consequently increase the level of their self-esteem (Gonzales and Hancock, 2011). On the other hand, the study conducted by The University of Gothenburg in Sweden, which

The article I chose for this critique was “Narcissism and Social Networking Web Sites” written by Laura E. Buffardi and W. Keith Campbell from the University of Georgia. This article is based on an experiment that was taken place to prove whether others could perceive a narcissistic individual as a narcissist through observing their social media sites. This experiment was a correlational type of study. The experimenters’ goal was to analyze whether there was any correlation or connection between the web page owner being a narcissist and the type of content they had on their profile.

Social media is considered to be “websites and applications that allow individuals to participate in social networking” (Spies Shapiro, 2014). Erving Goffman’s dramaturgical theory suggests that life is like a play in which people are the actors. Through social media it can be possible that some may learn how to play their role/identity through the socialization of others. In recent years, social media has changed dramatically, allowing individuals to share feelings, ideas,

Throughout the years, numerous of researches are conducted to see the connections between social media (namely, Facebook) and narcissism. University of Michigan conducted a research to find the relationship between social media and narcissism. For the first part of the study, the researchers recruited approximately around 486 college undergraduate students with the median age of 19. Meanwhile, 93 adults, mostly white females, with an age mean of 35 years old, were asked by the researchers to complete an online survey for the second part of the study. Participants have to answer questions about their social media use and a personality assessment to measure their level of narcissism (Swanbrow, 2013). Based on the results obtained, Facebook users that scores higher on the personality test tend to have more friends, tag themselves more often in photos posted and update their status more often (Firestone, 2012,

Recent research has documented how technology, and social networking sites (SNS; e.g., Facebook, Instagram) in particular, have given rise to a growing obsession with impression management and self-presentation online. Whether it’s searching for the perfect Instagram photo filter or carefully crafting a humblebrag Facebook status about a recent publication, users frequently engage in selective self-presentation strategies to portray an ‘ideal self’ through social media (Chou & Edge, 2012; Manago, Graham, Greenfield, & Salimkhan, 2008). In turn, we seek out social approval and positive feedback in the form of comments and likes.

The aim of this study is to analyze key psychological processes leading to a false Facebook-self, with an emphasis on key predictors mentioned in the previous sections. And the goal was to find out how the presentation of a “fake self” on Facebook is derived from psychological problems during the early years of upbringing. The theory presented stated that negative attachment styles (avoidant and anxious) both affect the person’s representation. Such false self-representations on Facebook can lead to similar negative consequences and may merit increased awareness, and in some extreme cases – when the gaps between the true and fake self are at