READ ME!
Why do people develop narcissistic qualities in the "virtual world" online and not carry these same qualities in the real world?
The internet allows us to believe that we are the center of importance, whereas in the real world we are surrounded by social signals that tell us otherwise.
The internet is a great medium for personal expression. Social networking sites like MySpace, Facebook, Hyves, and Orkut allow people to interact and share ideas through the “virtual world.” This presents many opportunities for us to show our creativity, which is not necessarily a good thing. The internet makes us anonymous; we can hide or show as much of ourselves as we want online. Also, the information that we receive from internet blogs or social sites has been filtered through someone’s personal bias before we read it. While this is true for any information we receive, there is a much larger chance that the information we receive from the internet is not intended to be as unbiased as possible, unlike news that we read in a newspaper or see on TV. Web narcissism is what results when these conditions are met. I believe that the internet presents itself as a medium that revolves around us; in the real, physical world, we are more aware of the people around us (and vice versa) and are less likely to develop “real world” narcissistic qualities because of this.
Take, for example, internet blogging sites. Keep in mind that we can reveal as much of our “real” selves as we want. We can even create an entirely new persona if we choose. The popular blog site Blogspot requires that the user enters his name, but it has no way of checking if the user entered the correct name or not. If I wanted to call myself “McLovin,” I could easily do so. Just focusing on the very concept of a blog allows us to understand why narcissistic tendencies may result from their usage. A blog is similar to a journal, but with one essential difference: it is meant for others to read. It is not the same as that diary you store your private thoughts in and hide under your bed; it is more like an open book with neon signs pointing at it preaching “READ ME!” When this kind of mindset is combined with the ability to create a new personality, the environment becomes ripe for narcissistic tendencies. Lore Sjöberg, a writer for Wired magazine, states in his blog: “…the [blogging] individual assumes that people do care about what he or she has to say, in spite of the individual's only political or activist experience being watching the movie Dave twice.” You may find it strange how my supporting quote comes from a blog, but I think it only helps to push my point further. Blogs are generally informal, which means that they follow no set rules or templates. There is no rule stating that blogs must present information as unbiased as possible.
Social networking sites allow us to push our creativity practically right into someone’s personal space. Facebook, for instance, alerts friends whenever an action is taken. If I set my interests to painting and eating, everyone will know about it. If I set my status to “I’m on the toilet,” everyone will know that I am, in fact, using the bathroom.
Sure, the option is available to cancel these alert messages, but I don’t know a single person that does that. It is worth noting that the alerts are turned on by default. Nicholas Carr, author of the book The Big Switch: Our New Digital Destiny, writes in his blog: “Another word for narcissism is "personalization." Web 2.0 technology personalizes culture so that it reflects ourselves rather than the world around us.” Social networking sites are based completely on our personal lives. Whether or not these sites allow us to portray realistic images of ourselves is beyond the scope of this essay. What is important is the way that these sites connect back to the “real world.” Unlike blogs, profiles on social networking sites are generally meant for a select group of personal friends to view. This makes it harder for a user to hide or change his identity on a social networking site. Rather than changing our identities, I believe that we alter our personalities slightly when we are online. If I like a certain movie, I might post it on my Facebook page, which would alert everyone of my love for it. In the “real world,” I might only mention to a person in passing that I like the movie.
The information on a blog or on a social networking site is available for anyone to read at any time. If I wanted to get to know someone in real life, I would have to talk to him or her and ask questions. On a social networking site, the information about that person is already there. Any narcissistic qualities that are present online are the result of the ability to remain anonymous and the viewpoint that the internet revolves around the individual. In the real world, we interact with other people and pick up social signals that are not present online. This in turn keeps most of us from believing that the actual world revolves around us.
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