People who are addicted to social media are narcissists, study finds

These days, Narcissus’ pool looks more like a smart-device screen.

A new study by Romanian researchers has revealed that people with high levels of narcissistic traits are more likely to be addicted to their phones.

The cellphone addiction, called “nomophobia” or “no mobile phone phobia,” is the fear of being detached from mobile phone connectivity, describes the Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care.

Researchers Alexandra Maftei and Acnana-Maria Pătrăușanu at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University in Iași, Romania, evaluated 559 people between the ages of 18 and 45 who were asked to complete an online survey that involved tests evaluating narcissism, stress, symptoms of social media addiction and nomophobia.

The assessment featured questions such as “I would feel uncomfortable without constant access to information through my smartphone” and “How often during the last year have you used social media so much that it has had a negative impact on your job/studies?”

Researchers noticed participants who scored higher on a scale of narcissistic traits were more likely to experience significant levels of nomophobia.

They also discovered narcissists’ desire and the need to feel important through admiration from others, which can easily be fulfilled via likes and comments derived from social media engagement.

Psychology Today describes a narcissist as a person who “encompasses a hunger for appreciation or admiration, a desire to be the center of attention, and an expectation of special treatment reflecting perceived higher status.”

However, there is a difference between narcissistic personality disorder and narcissism.

An individual with narcissistic personality disorder struggles to create and maintain long-lasting relationships because of their “lack of empathy,” unlike someone who suffers from narcissism and craves attention.

The study’s results, published in the Journal of Psychology, explained how nomophobia, narcissism, stress and social media addiction all influenced someone’s behavior.

“The most important finding of the present study is related to the mediating roles of social media addiction and nomophobia on the link between narcissism and stress,” the study authors wrote. 

And evidence suggests that social media addiction and nomophobia support the correlation between narcissism and stress levels.

“Individuals high in narcissism might be more prone to develop these behavioral addictions, which would further lead to increased stress levels,” researchers added.

Although narcissism and nomophobia feed into social media addiction, there are ways to combat the urge to be digitally connected at all times.

As The Post previously reported, people should opt out of the need to feel validated from social media interactions, consider how they feel emotionally once they log on and off a social media app and don’t binge-watch their Instagram feed because many people are not perceiving their real-life online.