Social media - from Facebook to Twitter - have made us
more densely networked than ever. Yet for all this connectivity, new
research suggests that we have never been lonelier (or more
narcissistic) and that this loneliness is making us mentally and
physically ill. A report on what the epidemic of loneliness is doing to
our souls and our society.
By
Self-presentation on Facebook is continuous, intensely mediated, and
possessed of a phony nonchalance that eliminates even the potential for
spontaneity. (“Look how casually I threw up these three photos from the
party at which I took 300 photos!”) Curating the exhibition of the self
has become a 24/7 occupation. Perhaps not surprisingly, then, the
Australian study “Who Uses Facebook?” found a significant correlation
between Facebook use and narcissism: “Facebook users have higher levels
of total narcissism, exhibitionism, and leadership than Facebook
nonusers,” the study’s authors wrote. “In fact, it could be argued that
Facebook specifically gratifies the narcissistic individual’s need to
engage in self-promoting and superficial behavior.”
