Is the internet making us more self-centered?

I have a Facebook page, to keep in touch with friends with whom I rarely have any other contact. I found setting up the Facebook page to be a bit unsettling, because it meant writing about myself so much.
I have had Twitter, and MySpace, but have cancelled them because they bored me.
I enjoy blogs on subjects that interest me, but I think that most blogs are about the writing, and the story, rather than about the writer.

It is a new way of communicating. I do not think it is more self-centered, just a way for the same person to achieve global outreach—if anybody is interested. That is the significant point, if anyone is interested.

Look at Fluther, new acquaintances from anywhere to talk with, like a global pub.

I think a lot of people have more than one in order to keep in touch with their friends/family that have a particular one. For a while, I had family members that had a MySpace page but not a Facebook page. I had both because I started on MySpace first, but switched to Facebook. I kept the MySpace just to keep in touch with the people that didn’t have Facebook. Since then, everyone else has gotten a Facebook and I have deleted MySpace.

In general, they all have something a little different to offer, so some people have each in order to take advantage of a certain feature form each one. I don’t really think it’s about being self-centered. It seems more about communication and keeping in touch.

It’s not making me more self-centered.

… who the hell cares what it’s doing to anyone else?

No, not in my case. Maybe some people just like attracting and receiving more attention than others. The Internet is a convenient tool to make this easier to happen.

You have a point there.
Especially with my generation, the current 17–20 year-old crowd.
But I think there’s other things that contributed to our self-centered attitude, like Barney the purple dinosaur telling us how special we all are.

But yeah, Facebook is understandable, I have one and it’s a great way to keep in touch. But Twitter, Formspring, and Livejournal just all seem so unnecessary.

Oh my yes! I’ve got three facebook accounts, each one dedicated to a specific facet of moi.

Ego. Everyone can have their moment of “fame” and attention.

I do think it’s a shame that many people now believe that the rest of the world is waiting breathlessly to hear every event in their lives.

It’s not making people more self centered, that is a cart following the horse argument…it’s giving people an outlet for the self-centeredness that exists inside them.

That’s all the time I have right now, I have to go update my facebook and myspace statuses and send out a tweet so everyone will know I just answered a question on Fluther.

Sorry, I wouldn’t know – I’ve never used most of the social networking sites, and I don’t know much about people who do, although I’ve been told my sons, grandsons, nieces and nephews do. I haven’t seen it on the Q & A sites, and I have only a select few people on my personal blog, who I have met face to face.

Gee, I can only comment on how it has affected me. If you have a few weeks to read, I will write it all up for you.

It certainly is. Forget about judging people by who they sit with at lunch time, it’s all about comparing how many comments/questions/friends/likes/messages/posts you have. It’s like popularity put into numerical form for easy comparison.

It sure is. Making it easier to believe our own bullshit. :-)