Like, No Duh

SDSU associate professor of psychology Jean Twenge polled 1068 college students on August 25 and found out something most adults have known since the creation of Britney Spears: not only are they narcissistic and attention-seekers, but they use social networking sites such as MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter to promote themselves and convey what fantastic lives they have.

“It’s fascinating how honest [college students] are about diagnosing their generation’s downsides,” says Twenge. “And students are right about the influence of social networking sites — research has shown that narcissistic people thrive on sites like Facebook, where self-centered people have more friends and post more attractive pictures of themselves.”

More than 80 percent of SDSU students who took the poll said they visit MySpace or Facebook multiple times throughout the day.