I just came across this study after browsing the epicenter of social media news, Mashable, for the first time in about 2 years.

Some people have described the results of the study as jaw-dropping. It found, among other things, that 57% of people believe their activities on social-networking sites are narcissistic in nature. Is that really “jaw-dropping” though? Many social networking sites encourage participation through regular status updates and lets face it, most peoples lives aren’t bubbling with excitement and edge-of-your-seat drama, so they inject a measure of creative storytelling to the mix.

Does that say something about the people who use social networking sites i.e. the fact that people twist and contort the facts of their lives to appear as being more interesting? I wouldn’t necessarily classify this as being narcissistic though. Certainly, if you just look at one side of the coin (in this case the online aspect) then we could quickly come to the conclusion that everybody is seeking out that lime light with their own selfish agenda. However, these traits don’t translate over to real life interactions though, that is to say that the vast majority of people don’t over-exaggerate every detail of their lives when interacting with them in-person.

Facebook, as an example, is a social playground. When we start assuming that everything that happens in this playground is an accurate representation of the characteristics of “Generation Y”, things start to get skewed. Yes, the internet is serious business, but at the same time it shouldn’t be used to stereotype an entire generation given that we still do exist outside this particular medium of communication.