"I don't have any social media accounts," said Heidi Schmitt, a third-year advertising major.

"I just like being private. I don't like all my information out there."

In a culture obsessed with followers and likes, lack of a social media presence is hard to understand.

According to a survey conducted in early 2018 by the Pew Research Center, 88 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds use some form of social media. Young Americans are more likely to use platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter.

A large amount of Snapchat users between the ages of 18 and 24 (71 percent) indicated they use the platform multiple times a day.

These statistics have prompted many older Americans to comment on younger peoples' seeming overuse of social media.

"I know people that are so consumed by social media that they don't have a life," said Isabella Diehl, a junior criminology major.

"At that point, the older generation is right by saying we need to actually live life and go out and get dirty."

Narcissism is often associated with avid social media users and consumers. Narcissists are defined as individuals who show an excessive need for admiration, have an inability to handle criticism, and hold on to a sense of entitlement.

"If you post a lot on Instagram or someone posts a picture of themselves and they get 1,000 compliments then that just kind of feeds narcissism," Diehl said.

"I feel like it's a lot according to who you are because I feel like sometimes people are more prone to be that way."

Courtney Baker, a third-year advertising major, is critical of narcissist behavior on social media.

"People are obsessed with looking good every day just to take a picture," Baker said.

"Some people already have that tendency in them, and I feel like social media brings that out. You can pay for followers now. I know some people who have paid like $30 for that."

Schmitt is aware of the narcissist behavior displayed on these platforms but is able to distance herself from this due to not having any social media accounts.

"People want to feed their inner self, their inner ego," Schmitt said.

According to research conducted by scientists at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories, Bamberg and the University of Würzburg, social networking sites are the perfect breeding ground for narcissists.

Through social media, narcissists are given the perfect opportunity to present themselves in a different way than in public. A link was also found between the number of friends a person has and how many pictures they post.

Despite all of this evidence, young people still find social media to have positive effects on their lives.

All three University of Florida students referenced social media as their main source for gathering news information.

Diehl; however, is cautious about the legitimacy of news she finds on her Twitter feed.

"There's also a negative side when you hear everything all the time because sometimes it's not true or someone's fabricated something," she said.

On the other hand, Schmitt tries not to focus on the negative effects of social media and instead highlights the positive impact it provides.

"It helps connect people together, even if they're across the world," Schmitt said.

"It gives people a voice that they didn't have before."