An epidemic of narcissism?
Feb 27th, 2007 by Lynne
I read an article on CNN today about a newly released study in which researchers found a significant increase in narcissism among college students in recent years. I suspect they would’ve found something similar in the population at large, to be quite honest. :-)
A blog can be an exercise in pure narcissism. It doesn’t have to be, but the tendency is always there.
I only question the ‘increase’ part…
I find that rather amusing. Just college students? I’m with you - look at the general population.
LOL, Jody! You do have a point.
Hi, Kate! Yeah, it does seem to be everywhere, doesn’t it?
Maybe it’s an interim step towards something better. I mean, right now everyone seems to finally realize that they DO matter. If we all realize we can make a difference, and an important difference…look out.
(That’s my indulgence of starry-eyed optimism for this calendar quarter.)
LOL, very good point, Lynne. And when haven’t a large percentage of people thought they were the best thing since sliced bread?
Hi, Joyce! If that’s what it leads to, then I’m all for it. :-)
Hiya, Michelle! I suspect shows like American Idol either make it worse or are just a symptom of the times.
Lynne, I was thinking of American Idol as I read your blog.
I saw something about that on one of the morning shows. They blame kids being brought up singing songs in kindergarten like “I’m special”. LOLOL
I bet the researchers think they’re special too.
Heh. I think everyone believes that, at least part of the time, Edie. :-)
They can’t be talking about me. I’m perfect.
…
I wonder if it’s narcissism or simply a very keen sense of growing up in public and being aware of one’s public image, viz. MySpace, FaceBook, LiveJournal, the myriad dating sites.
One of the webcomics I read, Inverloch, has a forum topic, “Pictures of you and your real life stuff,” which, based on my sampling (it’s huge) mostly consists of pictures of teens and tweens posting pictures of various experiments with haircuts and expressions and makeup, etc. Part of being that age is discovering your own identity, and discovering your “look” is part of that. Now, with cell phone cameras and internet access, it’s a much more public phenomenon than it used to be.
Good? Bad? I can’t say. There really isn’t any precedent for it. I have to say that the net audience seems in my limited experience to be more affirming and less eager to enforce convention than the magazines and TV shows that try to sell teens on whatever makes the most money for their advertisers. But it seems like a stretch to call it narcissism. The cynic in me suspects this is the cry of advertisers and other external influences who are unhappy that the kids are doing this exploration on their own now.
I noted that the study also found that college students are more career oriented now, and less academic, in choosing courses and majors. Well, with the economy tanking, what did the researchers expect? It’s sad, but I can’t blame the students.
Lynne,
I saw that article too and plan to share it with my students (I’m a Composition instructor); it should prompt an interesting discussion. Like you said, though, it’s not just the students; the narcissism seems to be widespread in society.