Does Facebook make you narcissistic?

The word narcissism comes from the Greek myth of Narcissus. Narcissus was a handsome Greek youth who rejected the desperate advances of the nymph Echo. As punishment, he was doomed to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. Unable to consummate his love, Narcissus ‘lay gazing enraptured into the pool, hour after hour’, and finally changed into a flower that bears his name, the narcissus

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Are you, or is someone you know, a narcissist? Try these quick-fire questions to find out: Do you (or your friend) have an obvious obsession with yourself? Do you have problems sus-taining satisfying relationships? Is empathy difficult for you? Are you hypersensitive to insults (or even imagined insults)? Do you flatter those who admire you and/or use people without considering the costs of doing so? Do you brag and exagger-ate your achievements?

If you answered ‘yes’ to most of these, then you (or your friend) may be just a little narcissistic! Recent research from the USA suggests that young people are becoming increas-ingly narcissistic, and obsessed with self-image and shallow friendships. Further, Facebook and other social media offer a platform for young people’s obsessions with their self-image and the development of shallow rather than deep friendships.