While social media's advantages have been chronicled extensively, so have claims of negative consequences. Social media has been linked to narcissism, as it is said to reward shallow social connections, vanity, and self-promotion. Others state that social media is addictive, or creates information overload and attention deficit disorder– like symptoms that diminish long-term concentration. None of these linkages have been proven, but they are frequently mentioned in scare stories about technology. While some of these negative effects were mentioned by informants, the most frequently discussed downsides to social media use were those relating to the extra layer of social information that the lifestream provides.

Alice E. Marwick, Status Update, loc. 568