BYU–Hawaii students shared their opinions on the connection between social media and narcissism.
According to Webster’s Dictionary, narcissism is, “An excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one’s physical appearance. Extreme selfishness, with a grandiose view of one’s own talents and a craving for admiration, as characterizing a personality type.”
University of Georgia psychology researchers Laura Buffardi and Keith Campbell said in 2008 that “online online communities may be an especially fertile ground for narcissists to self-regulate via social connections for two reasons.
"First, narcissists function well in the context of shallow (as opposed to emotionally deep and committed) relationships. Social networking Web sites are built on the base of superficial ‘friendships’ with many individuals and ‘sound-byte’ drive communication between friends.”
Second they said people who use social media “have complete power over self-presentation on Web pages, unlike most other social contexts.” They say personal Web pages are self-promoting and use self-descriptions, which research has shown, is the type of situation narcissists seek out.
When asked if she thought social media was narcissistic, Briana Utsch, a freshman in biochemistry from Arizona, said, “I think that it definitely can be. People think that they’re more important than they really are, and because of that, they try to make themselves more important. So I think it could be some kind of exponential narcissistic growth. On the other hand, it could also be very harmful to people’s self-worth or self-image.”
Utsch continued, “I have an Instagram and I think Instagram is the most narcissistic because it’s all about how many likes you can get on a picture, and how many followers you can get. But it’s also my favorite.”
Ylanna Lowry, a junior in biology from Canada, talked in particular about “selfies” and which social media websites are the most narcissistic. Lowry said, “Instagram, and Snapchat. People are always taking pictures of themselves, scrunching up their noses, taking selfies. I know that for some people, all that matters to them is how many likes they get on their Instagram pictures. So they will try to be Instagram friends with everybody just so they can get the most likes.”
Erik Adams, a junior in biology from Oregon, said we all fall into this trap of narcissism at some point or another. Adams said, “I think we’re all a little bit guilty at times of being narcissistic. I mean we do like attention, but it just depends on what type of attention it is, and how we get it.”
He continued, “I think if they’re just putting a bunch of useless stuff up, that’s especially narcissistic. But if it’s actually out there to uplift, inspire, and present good ideas, then that’s different.”