Narcissistic Characteristics Of Social Media

People all over the world use social media to connect with one another, but has anyone deeply thought about why? The simple answers are, “I want to stay in touch with my family members” or “I want to keep up with what is happening in the world.” These are all valid responses; however, there is a more profound meaning. All humans need a sense of self-esteem, and the presence of social media gives an easy boost. On the surface this is a positive effect of using social media, but the tendencies behind it are narcissistic. Psychologists need to agree on a conclusion in order to effectively asses how social media impacts behavior. One side of the argument says that social media sites such as, Facebook, provide an accessible platform for communication while the other side claims that these social media sites feed people’s self-absorbed egos.

According to Alex Lambert, using social media is merely for social benefit. He states that using Facebook is nothing more than a human’s desire to maintain relationships between people and a community. Lambert acknowledges that while some use Facebook with narcissistic intentions, most people use it as a communication tool. He believes that the frequency of using social media has little correlation to

Medizadeh herself, created a study where she surveyed 100 college students about their self-esteem and Facebook use. She found that those with lower self-esteem and a higher rating of narcissism tended to use Facebook more than those who have a low narcissistic rating and high self-esteem. Sites like Facebook give users the ability to tailor their profile to show what they want others to see and creating an ideal image of themselves that may not necessarily be true. Medizadeh’s statements and results prove that social media feeds