Not Your True Self

This seems obvious, but it’s always nice to have a study: People Who Overshare on Facebook Just Want to Belong. 

People use Facebook to present themselves the way they want to be seen, and to get a sense of belonging, so says a 2012 study. [Albright College’s Gwendolyn] Seidman’s study also measured participants’ motivations behind their posts, and found that they were mostly self-oriented. Posters sought attention and a feeling of inclusion, but were seemingly less interested in expressing caring for others. They treated Facebook like a drive-thru window, seeking a quick and easy dollar-menu pick-me-up.

And it seems their friends could tell — “those who express the true self do not receive more wall posts from others in response to their greater expressiveness,” the study reads. “Their self-oriented motives may be apparent to their Facebook friends, causing them to not respond in kind.”

The study analyzes the “true self,” the idea “that we possess qualities we’d like to be recognized for, but that we normally find ourselves unable to express in day-to-day life.” Your true self isn’t your true self, in other words. As St. Augustine explained a long time ago. But it’s nice to have a study.