You're so vain

The average social media user knows the feeling.

You log on to Facebook on a Monday morning to find your newsfeed awash with photographs from your weekend adventures. And inevitably, you look on in horror at the images detailing the escapades that ensued after the fourth, or was it fifth, frozen margarita.

While, at the time, you may have thought climbing on the bar and singing Bryan Adams' "Summer of 69" at the top of your lungs was a phenomenal idea, the photographic evidence proves otherwise.

This situation has users desperately clamouring for the 'untag' button, while plotting Hamlet-esque revenge on the 'friend' who opted to document the shenanigans in the first place.

But, why does it bother us so much? Because part of the brilliance of social media is that it plays into one of humanity's most self-indulgent emotional vices - vanity.

By tapping into our deep-seated need to be viewed in a favourable light, our social media profiles essentially allow us to market ourselves and show the world how popular, fun, attractive, intelligent and successful we are. And this Web-based narcissism has us agonising over unflattering images and formulating witty status updates as we vie for likes, followers and business connections.

Unsurprisingly, a survey conducted at the end of 2012 found that 46% of women admitted to only posting flattering pictures onto their social media profiles, while men wanted their posts to make them appear more intelligent and fun. The same survey revealed the main motivation behind this strategic marketing was to impress other people.

But, is it such a bad thing for people to always want to put their best digital foot forward?

In theory, no. However, problems arise when that little bit of personal publicity morphs into self-obsession.

Since the invention of the camera in the 1800s, people have been taking photos of everything, from their families and friends to their travels and surroundings.

Today, we take pictures of ourselves.

Termed a 'selfie', this type of photo involves the subject rather awkwardly holding the camera at arm's length and taking a picture of him or herself. The selfie trend has become rather popular, as can be seen on the Instagram profile of Benny Winfield Jnr, or MrPimpGoodGame (I kid you not), whose account features120 images of nothing other than his toothy grin.

For US football star Aaron Hernandez, a 2009 selfie linked him to a murder. After Hernandez was named as a suspect in the murder of Odin Lloyd, a selfie featuring him holding a Glock.45 handgun was used as evidence in the case, after it was revealed that Lloyd was shot with the same type of gun.

This situation has users desperately clamouring for the 'untag' button.

And people don't just express their egotism via images of themselves; the social media era has also brought on a rather amusing phenomenon known as the Humblebrag. This entails subtly letting others know how fantastic your life is while undercutting it with a bit of self-effacing humour or "woe is me" gloss.

For example: "Uggggh, just ate about 15 pieces of chocolate. Gotta learn to control myself when flying first class, or they'll cancel my modelling contract."

What this person wants us to think they are saying: I really shouldn't eat so many chocolates. What this person is actually saying: my life is fabulous, be jealous of me mere mortals.

While some may think their selfie-posting, humble-bragging friend is just being pompous, psychologists believe this behaviour can also reveal some rather telling things about the person's self-esteem.

They posit that the superficial relationships and emotionally disconnected interactions that often characterise our social media use may mean that Boastful Betty is actually trying to convince herself that she is as clever and popular as her profile makes her out to be, which is actually quite sad, if you ask me. Perhaps the first class flying, chocolate eating model mentioned above just needs someone to tell her that she is awesome and give her a hug?

Jokes aside, on the other end of the self-love spectrum, these online communities that function to connect us, have also been known to become forums for self-loathing. Earlier this year, Instagram revealed that some of its users, mostly teenage girls, were promoting eating disorder rhetoric, using hashtags like #Ana and #Thinspo. This kind of forum sees anorexia and bulimia sufferers egging each other on with comments like "starve bitch starve" and "don't eat. You're fat."

The way I see it, our approach to this social media/narcissism conundrum, like many things in life, should be one of "everything in moderation". Being too confident is just as problematic as self-deprecation. Perhaps I'll send MrPimpGoodGame a message encouraging him to take a few photos of something other than himself.