Social Media & Megalomania: A Dangerous Mix

I tend to think there are certain types of people who use the internet as their refuge from the ‘real world’.  These people may possibly receive more attention from their online ‘persona’, but offline, they have about as much personality as a bag of cotton balls.  Dull and lifeless. A while ago, I wrote about “Social Networking Delusions of Grandeur” and megalomania, and now more than ever, I truly think tons of people online suffer from some sort of psychosis. You have these ‘online’ personalities walking around as if every last one of the 1,663,3770,408 (and counting) people on the internet either:

A) has heard of them

B) cares enough to want to hear about them

C) gives a damn if they even exist

I recently spoke with a local Clinical Psychologist, Dr. Carla Rhodes and she states, “People online that suffer from delusions of grandeur have fragile self-esteem, poor sense of identity and usually have had an inadequate upbringing. Such people are often covering up a poor sense of self-worth by creating fantasies, that they are special, different, or important”.  Dr. Rhodes, also goes on to say that the internet, especially social media,  is not where these type of people belong, because they can be attached to deep seeded narcissistic character pathologies.  Also, Dr. Rhodes went on to state, “Such individuals become unduly attached to monikers as they have difficulties representing their world internally and rely on external support to remain in touch with reality”. In laymen terms, they’re threatened by any feeling of encroachment upon their ‘identity’, it makes me immediately think of  Spike Lee vs Spike TV.

So if you or a loved one seem to fit the above description, please remove yourself from the internet and seek immediate help from a mental health care professional.

This has been a public service announcement.

Tags: blak, chik, clinical psychology, Dr. Carla Rhodes, fungke, fungkeblakchik, megalomania, social media, you have the personality of a bag of cotton balls