Courtesy: Guardian
Psychology paper finds Facebook and other social media offer platform for obsessions with self-image and shallow friendships
Saturday 17 March 2012 09.41 EDT
Too many ‘friends’? A psychology paper has found a link between Facebook and other social media and socially disruptive narcissism. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Researchers have established a direct link between the number of friends you have on Facebook and the degree to which you are a “socially disruptive” narcissist, confirming the conclusions of many social media sceptics.
People who score highly on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory questionnaire had more friends on Facebook, tagged themselves more often and updated their newsfeeds more regularly.
The research comes amid increasing evidence that young people are becoming increasingly narcissistic, and obsessed with self-image and shallow friendships.
The latest study, published in the journal Personality and Individual Differences, also found that narcissists responded more aggressively to derogatory comments made about them on the social networking site’s public walls and changed their profile pictures more often.
A number of previous studies have linked narcissism with Facebook use, but this is some of the first evidence of a direct relationship between Facebook friends and the most “toxic” elements of narcissistic personality disorder.
A leader says a lot about the people he leads. So if analyze the creator of Facebook, you most probably could guess who would be primarily inclined to use this product.
Categories: Internet, Psychology
It turns out, indeed. The parable of social networking is a double-edged sword. Depending on how it would be used and depending on who is using it. Back to us each. And, in the good use, social networks of this kind presupposes each individual user who has a level of introspection and awareness of good heart.