Mental Health

Understand Mental Health Impact of Bragging on Social Media [VIDEO]

By Abbie Kraft | Update Date: Mar 31, 2017 07:47 AM EDT

Researchers reveal the potential mental health impact of bragging on social media. It was mentioned that people who post most of their personal achievements on Facebook may be referred to as someone who has narcissistic tendencies.

Studies reveal that constantly posting one's achievements and activities on social media can potentially do more harm than good. One of the factors being pointed out by experts are couples who would consistently leave their love trails on their public social media post. It was explained, however, that "couple-love-posts" do not usually gather positive reactions as it is bound to draw annoyance to their friends, according to the Psychology Today.

It was also added that being positive or negative on social media creates a different impact among followers. Sharing good news such as being promoted, getting a new job, buying a new car and other personal announcements are often overlooked as bragging. Though these posts may be harmless, experts suggest that one should be careful about the potential mental health impact of bragging on social media.

Graham Scott and Kristy Ravenscroft did a study on the positive posts made by both Facebook profile owners and their friends. It was revealed that people who post their achievements online got fewer likes as it was perceived as bragging by their followers. The positive announcement that was done by their friends involving their achievements, however, gathered more likes, according to the to study published in Cyberpsychology, Social Networking, and Behavior.

The researchers came up with different categories in regards to the results such as "Personal" self-authored - where the person would post an accomplishment on his own, General self-authored: The owner of the profile wrote the post and it described activities, events, or opinions. Personal friend-authored: The owner's friends wrote the posts, which described a personal quality or achievement of the profile owner, and the General friend-authored: The owner's friends wrote the posts, and they didn't describe anything personal about the owner," as explained in Psychology today.

The results implied that posting content on Facebook can make a good impression but it can be easily interpreted as bragging. Though the study on the potential mental health impact of bragging on social media may come across loopholes, researchers warn to keep posts at bay. Anxiously waiting for likes and positive comments can be tagged as a mental health concern already which requires the individual to take a break from social media.

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