How Facebook is ruining humanity...or so some believe

   Note to all Facebook users: we are "either totally conceited or serious self-haters."

   Or so says a Sept. 2010 article titled "Facebook users are jerks, another study confirms" from MSNBC's technology blog, Technolog. 

   "Just this week we learned that Facebook use can lower grades by 20 percent," the article read. "That's the latest on a list of studies that includes how Facebook can cause health problems, destroy future job opportunities, whip up jealousy and blah blah blah. And now, here's another one that tells us Facebook users are either totally conceited or serious self-haters."  
   I think you can tell that Helen Popkin, the author, is somewhat sarcastic in her tone. But those are some pretty serious accusations to levy against the world's most popular social networking site, and maybe the most influential communication tool of our generation — except for the cell phone...but you can even get Facebook on a cell phone now.
   I have no idea what health problems are alluded to in the article or studies, but I can definitely see the negative effects the site could have for future employment. 
   People forget when they are uploading pictures of themselves and their friends during last weekend's drunken debauchery, that regardless of how funny — or gross — it is to stick your tongue down someone's throat while a friend snaps a pic of the sweaty mess, those pictures can be seen by pretty much everyone and are out there forever. No employer wants a trashy employee...unless you own a strip club.
   Another article, from the Los Angeles Times, said that girls who use Facebook as a public photo album detailing every moment — significant or not — in the their lives, "assert their self worth via their physical appearance."
   That should come as no surprise to anyone.
   But the thing that really grabbed my attention was a line near the end of the article quoting the lead author of the study, Michael A. Stefanone.
   He said that girls who do this, post thousands of pictures of themselves, do it "as a form of advertisement." 
   Stefanone implies that they are advertising their bodies, rather than themselves, to anyone and everyone who will look, push the "like" button or even post a comment to perpetuate their heightened self-opinion.
   To sum up, I think I've thoroughly proved the narcissism angle, but what about the other half of heavy Facebookers, those self-deprecating users.

  Well, apparently they are one and the same. 

  Popkin's article states other findings from the study: 

• The more extreme the narcissism, the more time spent checking Facebook.
• The more extreme the self-loathing, the more time spent checking Facebook.

   So, Facebook is responsible for not only perpetuating narcissism but also self-loathing. And thus ruining humanity...but we can't help ourselves can we, regardless of how it makes us feel.
  Friend me! 

Articles used in this post:
-http://technolog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/09/09/5077830-facebook-users-are-jerks-another-study-confirms
-http://www.latimes.com/health/boostershots/la-heb-facebook-vanity-20110310,0,464632.story