Social media is a crucial part of our everyday lives. The rate of the use of social media has been increasing–according to Backlinko, there are 4.8 billion internet users, 93% of whom are active online. But with the use of social media, there is a rising question on if it is making us self-centered. Is social media making us more narcissistic? 

According to the Oxford Dictionary, narcissism is defined as “ having an excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one’s physical appearance”. A Narcissistic Personality Disorder is when a person has severely inflated self-importance. 

As most know, social media is any platform that is used to share thoughts, ideas, and information. Most use social media to share a part of their lives. For example, if someone were to go on a vacation, they would post pictures and videos from the vacation on apps like Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok. The increased amount of time on social media has shown higher levels of narcissism. 

https://openpsychometrics.org/tests/NPI/1.php 

We asked some students at Green Level, who are active social media users, to take the Narcissistic Personality Test. To our surprise, we found that most active social media users here are not narcissistic. Overall Green Level’s social media usage does not make its students more narcissistic.