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Using Facebook is the online equivalent of staring at yourself in the
mirror, according to a study.
Those who spent more time updating their profile on the social networking
site were more likely to be narcissists, said researchers.
Facebook provides an ideal setting for narcissists to monitor their
appearance and how many ‘friends’ they have, the study said, as it allows them
to thrive on ‘shallow’ relationships while avoiding genuine warmth and
empathy.
They also tend to use the site for promoting themselves to friends or
people they would like to meet, the study concluded.
Researcher Soraya Mehdizadeh from York University in Canada asked 100
students, 50 male and 50 female, aged between 18 and 25 about their Facebook
habits.
They all took psychology tests to measure their levels of narcissism, which
the study defined as ‘a pervasive pattern of grandiosity, need for admiration,
and an exaggerated sense of self-importance’.
Those who scored higher on the narcissism test checked their Facebook pages
more often each day than those who did not.
There was also a difference between men and women – men generally promoted
themselves by written posts on their Facebook page while women tended to
carefully select the pictures in their profile.
The findings, published in the journal Cyberpsychology, Behaviour And
Social Networking, also suggested that those with low self-esteem also checked
their Facebook pages more regularly than normal.
This may not be altogether surprising as it is widely thought, however
contradictory it may appear, that narcissism is linked to a deep-rooted lack of
self-esteem.
Miss Mehdizadeh admitted that not everyone would appreciate her
findings.
She said: ‘I think people get sort of defensive about it – like, “I don’t
use my Facebook for that reason” – because it’s a label that you don’t want to
be slapped with.’
Facebook has more than 500 million users worldwide and is the world’s
biggest social networking website, but it has been involved in a number of
controversies.
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