Central points raised on social media and narcissism

From "Is Facebook sharing making us more vain?", The Guardian (2013)

A Facebook profile is often a carefully constructed public image: it reflects how you want others to see you, rather than who you actually are. Like some sort of grotesque, endless carousel, people are portrayed as constantly smiling, on nights out, or on holiday. Consumer culture encourages us to favour happy, affluent people, so it is little surprise people feel pressured to present themselves in their best light on their profiles. Pictures are vetted, carefully selected and sometimes even Photoshopped. Weaknesses, insecurities and imperfections are generally left out. The problem is, these are the very things that make us lovable human beings – the Facebook profile is just a vacuous, usually unrepresentative, projection of the user.

From online debate "You Like Me! You really like me!", The New York Times (2013)

As one paper concluded, narcissists use Twitter “as a kind of technologically augmented megaphone: A means of amplifying one’s own perceived superiority to others.” They use Facebook as “a technologically enhanced mirror, reflecting a preoccupation with one’s own image, others’ reactions to this image, and a desire to update the image as frequently as possible.” - Jean Twenge

[...] don't hate the player -- hate the game. It's just what we've been trained to do. [...] Anonymous or pseudonymous posting can relieve us of the burdens of social media, and the resulting narcissistic behavior. [...] Many of us have become so concerned with maintaining our carefully crafted online presence that expressing our true feelings and ideas often takes a back seat. Anonymous posting enables honest expression, unencumbered by identity. - Chris Poole

To be fair, it isn’t easy to know the best way to promote one’s self in a brand-driven and competitive business where style seems to trump substance. But I have a simple rule of thumb for actors: If what you’re posting can, in some way, be "shared" by "friends," post it. This includes plays, performances, openings, or television premieres. It is part of your job as an artist and entrepreneur to let us know about your work. If it’s simply good news for you, then pick up a phone, call the folks close to you, and keep in mind that most likely your 675 actor friends on Facebook are not “On Set!" like you; they are probably "At the unemployment office!" or "Counting Tips!" In other words, don’t tell us how “blessed” you are, show it … by having some grace, taste and humility. Facebook isn’t the problem. Our need to validate ourselves with outside approval is. Please share this on Facebook… - Joe Holt

Facebook will probably be passé as well as Twitter, though I cringe to think what will replace them. In the meantime I will be content to use my landline and email in private. Perhaps I am the narcissist. - Bruce McKinney

Once we understand the actual issues involved in narcissistic disturbance, we can be on the lookout for how we, and others, use and rely on social media platforms. We can even become more expert at discerning what is a healthy degree of sharing versus what is merely a compulsive pursuit for attention. - Eleanor Payson

From "Is Facebook making us Lonelier?", The Atlantic (2012)

Vickers’s web of connections had grown broader but shallower, as has happened for many of us. We are living in an isolation that would have been unimaginable to our ancestors, and yet we have never been more accessible.  

What Facebook has revealed about human nature—and this is not a minor revelation—is that a connection is not the same thing as a bond, and that instant and total connection is no salvation, no ticket to a happier, better world or a more liberated version of humanity. Solitude used to be good for self-reflection and self-reinvention. But now we are left thinking about who we are all the time, without ever really thinking about who we are. Facebook denies us a pleasure whose profundity we had underestimated: the chance to forget about ourselves for a while, the chance to disconnect. 

Those were just a few of my favourite of the best out there...  'bye!