But in all seriousness, I agree. No one likes hearing bad things about himself or herself.

I just disagree with the idea that we’re *all* narcissists. I do think that people who are narcissistic will come through more clearly as narcissists via sites like Facebook and Twitter, but as for the rest of us… maybe we do, too?

I mean, I really enjoy telling people about cool things in my life. But it’s not because I want them to be jealous or anything like that. I just want to share the things that make me happy. And I do try to tone it down. (It’s not like I post about every little thing–most recently I mentioned my new kitchen, which I think was definitely worth talking about.)

The same thing, I think, applies to people who constantly and consistently post “woe-is-me” status messages. Sure, some want attention because they’re narcissists and need to be validated through others’ attention. But most other people, I think, just want to express their emotions because it makes them feel better to do so.

Lynn Marie: “The whole point of the internet is to communicate and share our thoughts and ideas. That does not mean we are narcissists!”

Ashlie: “We are in a completely narcissistic age. In my personal opinion, that is half the cause of the problems of the world.”

Two vastly different opinions!

I’m inclined to agree with the majority here–I don’t think we’re being narcissistic in our desire to keep in touch. (And keeping in touch is the main reason why I use Facebook and now Twitter.) Of course it is nice to let people know what I’m doing these days: I fully admit that one of my first Tweets was about my new kitchen. But does that really make me or anyone else a narcissist?

It’s food for thought.

I do agree with Ashlie that narcissism is one of humanity’s worst traits because it can lead to bad choices and worse actions. And I’m sure these social networks do have their share of narcissists!