Facebook breeds NARCISSISM!!..

Nowadays facebook has become a total addict for people of every age especially teenagers. It seems as if it is their part of life which they cannot live without. Of course such an addiction is not good and the most important reason for this which is up on the news is that “facebook breeds narcissism”. Narcissism is defined as a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, exaggerated sense of self importance and a need for admiration leading to the person being selfish in a way.

A survey was carried out in the department of psychology in York University in Canada with 50 male and 50 female students which showed a positive correlation between narcissism and self esteem. The survey showed that when the online activity is more self-promotional individuals show even higher levels of narcissism and on the other hand lower self-esteem. People refer to their own intellectual abilities on facebook and have photos which display their physical attractiveness. This denotes that facebook allows its users to have a control of how they present themselves and how they are perceived by people they know. Does this not give birth to fakeness? Because when one communicates in reality the person’s identity is constructed under certain limitations such as social background, ethnicity affecting the way they are perceived by others and when people communicate online ideal traits are conveyed easily through photos on facebook. These photos increase their self promotional behavior and their about me sections show their high intellectual behavior. Hence the identity is controlled by the individual. Even the Hollywood actress; Kristin Stewart refuses to use a networking site because she thinks it shows narcissism, she says “there is never a point of satisfaction that you can accomplish, so why start.” The study in York University showed that narcissism was correlated with extraverted acts, being especially predictive of being in a group, talking about friends and socializing.

Hence there should be limits on such social networking sites where the possibility of increasing your own self promotional behavior should be minimum because narcissism is such a great problem that even psychologists have difficulty in studying narcissists because they are likely to present themselves in the best possible light in simple words they love themselves. Hence they become oblivious to their own true selves. So does this prove that your facebook page is more than just telling of what you are doing? Of course yes. Its a telling of your personality too!. And not to forget that such a site as facebook offers a gateway for many shallow relationships and emotionally detached communication.