September 9, 2010
Never mind global warning! Given the cavalcade of studies — specious or otherwise — revealing how Facebook is destroying humanity, we probably won't be around for the worst of it.
Why, just this week we learned thatFacebook use can lower grades by 20 percent. That's the latest on a list of studies that includes how Facebook can cause health problems, destroy future job opportunities, whip up jealousy and blah blah blah. And now, here's another one that tells us Facebook users are either totally conceited or serious self-haters.
It's been this Facebook user's personal experience that one can be both of the above. And sure enough, a much-hyped undergraduate psychology thesis out of York University in Canada finds that both narcissists and low self-esteem sufferers (within the test group) tend to spend more time on Facebook, loading up their profiles with a lot of self-centered content.
"We all know people like this. They’re updating their status every five minutes and the photos they post are very carefully construed," the thesis author Soraya Mehdizade said on York University's news page. "The question is, are these really accurate representations of the individual or are they merely a projection of who the individual wants to be?" The study also found:
- The more extreme the narcissism, the more time spent checking Facebook.
- The more extreme the self-loathing, the more time spent checking Facebook.
- Males were more concerned with the "About me" sections of their profiles.
- Women are more concerned with how good they look in their pictures.
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