Yes and no. I think social media definitely has narcissists. How could such a platform NOT attract people like that? But I don't think that they are the majority.


I think most of what you see on there that looks like bragging is about perception. There are people who post all of their problems on facebook, for example, but most rational people don't. Most are aware that their friends and families and old high school classmates and casual acquaintances aren't interested in the fight they had with their spouse yesterday or the guy who pissed them off at work today. And we don't want to think about those things, either. So we post the happy stuff, and we attempt to present ourselves as we wish to be seen - stable, with it, together, and happy. We post the pictures from our vacation and the happy holiday memories and how excited we are about our new car or our kids' report cards. And then your old high school chum who you haven't seen in decades sees it and thinks, "Oh, man, that person is living the high life!" because he's comparing his marriage to yours or his vacation to yours or whatever.


In other words, we see our entire lives, the good and the bad, while others see the parts we show them. Nine times out of ten, we're not showing them the bad.


And I don't know if there is a fix for that. I certainly don't want my friends to NOT post pictures of their vacations and their happiness because I'm comparing it to my misery. And I definitely don't want to read about their problems every day.


Just my two cents.