Millennials, Narcissism, and Social Networking Sites

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Recent research has uncovered that the Millennial Generation are more Narcissistic than previous generations (Orr et al., 2009). Narcissistic Personality Disorder is “identified by the presence of grandiose self-importance...” (Bender, 2012). Narcissists tend to see themselves as being intelligent, powerful, physically attractive, special and unique, and they expect special treatment from others while believing they owe nothing in return (McKinney, Kelly & Duran, 2012; Orr et al., 2009). Alongside this increase of Narcissistic behaviour, there has also been an increase in usage of social networking sites (SNSs) (Orr et al., 2009). SNSs such as Facebook and Twitter have been growing at an exponential rate, particularly Facebook, which is currently …show more content…

In particular, interest over whether people who use SNSs have higher levels of Narcissism than non-users of such sites. Two reasons have been discovered as to why people who use SNS may have higher levels of Narcissism than non-users. Firstly, Narcissism is strongly associated with forming relationships as an opportunity for self-enhancement (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). Online communities, like Facebook and Twitter, encourage self-absorbed behaviour as they are built on superficial ‘friendships’ and often are used to maintain large numbers of relationships rather than deeper relationships. This allows Narcissists to maintain large numbers of shallow relationships, which constantly affirms their Narcissistic esteem (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). Secondly, these sites offer a highly controlled environment, providing owners with complete power over self-presentation (Mehdizadeh, 2010). This provides an ideal setting for the owner to manage the impression they portray to others and create their “hoped-for possible selves” (Mehdizadeh, 2010). In particular, SNSs can be used to only share attractive photos of oneself or writing posts that are self-promoting, creating a biased impression of themselves (Ryan & Xenos,

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