Missing geometry in ViewData Window in Postgresql -

can me understand ambiguity in postgresql. have table of building polygons of large dataset containing 2412785 rows. in pgadmin-iii, when try my_table>right click>view data>view rows, in view window returned rows no geometry this:

while @ same time, tried command:

select * my_table; 

and returned geometry values same rows this:

can me understand this? mean wrong went in import procedure using postgis shapefile importer or "view data" not recommended way view large geometries?

i'm 95% seeing quirk in pgadmin iii, shows data number of characters under user defined limit. if data greater limit blank cell shown instead. these blank cells ambiguous, , not first caught it.

a true test of seeing if cells null or not use like:

select count(*) my_table geom null;