Social media is for narcissists

Do you love spending as much time as possible on Facebook and Twitter? You might be a narcissist. A study reveals that 57% of young people believe their generation uses social networking sites for self-promotion, narcissism and attention seeking.

Jean Twenge, an SDSU Psychology Professor and co-author of The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement, collaborated on a national poll with Youth Pulse that surveyed 1,068 college students. Students were asked about their social media usage, generation attitudes, whether or not sites like Twitter and Facebook were used for self-promotion, and if social media attention-seeking is helpful for success.

While it's no surprise that social media would cater to a more self-promotional audience, it's certainly interesting to note that not only does Gen Y think of their social behaviours as narcissistic, but almost 40% agree that "being self-promoting, narcissistic, overconfident, and attention-seeking is helpful for succeeding in a competitive world."

The study also found that 92% of polled students said they use MySpace or Facebook regularly, and 84% of respondents go online several times per day. Survey respondents were supplied by Youth Pulse, whose SurveyU panel consists of students who were recruited both online and off.