New Narcissism

1. The phrase narcissism comes from the story of the man Narcissus, “a handsome young youth who falls hopelessly in love with his own reflection in a pool of water” (p. 2, l. 32).
As the social critic Christopher Lacsh theorised, every generation reproduces its culture, the individual, in the form of personality. Today we are living in a world of New Narcissism. Not only are we narcissistic – we now have the social medias and Internet as remedies of self-promotion. Being an individual in a culture filled with love for celebrity, we find interest in some originally uninteresting things, such as which meals are included in a celebrity’s diet. It is therefore easier to deceive our minds in to thinking, that such insignificant bit of information about ourselves is in fact significant to the rest of the world. It is difficult to be yanked out of the hands of narcissism, as no one on the Internet bothers to inform one, that all of this information is of no matter. And maybe we enjoy watching and reading all of this triviality, because it reflects the reproduction of our culture and therefore also the individual.

2. The articles “Student narcissism on the rise” by Janice McDuffee and “Do Today’s Young People Really Think They Are So Extraordinary?” by Catherine West hold two mutually contradictory statements. As it appears from the title, the first article states, that the youths are products of increased self-enhancement and self-involvedness. The harm of this is expressed to be the disappointment that will appear, if or when the individual’s expectations cannot be fulfilled as a consequence of competition and economy. The article by Catherine West criticizes this statement, and argues for the exact opposite: There are no validations of evolvement of narcissism in today’s youth. A self-made opinion isn’t difficult to make, since no one can decide which view on reality is right or wrong. Ironically both articles are based on studies devoted to narcissism, and it is therefore challenging to see how these two results could possibly have the same world as a source. A practicable explanation can perhaps be found in the process of the studies. Such as which questions were asked and more importantly how they were asked: When being asked a question, the individual is staged, the need to emerge as something or someone desirable appears and once again narcissism shows its face.

3. One can argue, that by taking part in social medias like Facebook and MySpace, one only obtains corroboration instead of taking advantage of the creation of a potential contrast. To a high extent we find our attitudinal equals and reflections in social medias. We may ask ourselves, if we haven’t always discussed with opinionative equals.
Perhaps the question should be, whether social medias such as Facebook and MySpace create a narrowing or opening of the influences from public space. The self-affirmation and ego boosting has always existed, but is now a display on the computer screen. Just as easily as one can receive recognition in the shape of a “like” on Facebook, just as easily can one be incorporated in the group of people declaring social media for a walkabout in our own outlook on life. The social media is a gift as well as a burden: A social club of friends, who all agree with allegations of one another– but it might as well be the exact opposite. The social media doesn’t create the mass hysteria. Quite the reverse. The mass hysteria creates the social media.
As it is in society today everyone has a chance of being heard. The question is whether that is the voice of freedom or of limitation when speaking of art and cleverness. The ability of everyone stating something with equal speed enhances the competition and one easily drowns in the masses of updates. On the contrary, the social media creates a possibility for people who are keeping one incredible thought to get this particular thought in circulation … This creates another opponent: The social media contains instants. The thought doesn’t last any longer, than what one has just posted – and what was posted three days ago no longer exists in our memory, as we no longer amass the written word. One can argue that society has become consumerist. In spite of boundless room in cyberspace, the fight over the empty seat is on-going.