Friday, March 9, 2007

Narcissism Rising?

I read an article this week about narcissism in college students. A study conducted by San Diego State University studied 16,000 students between 1982 and 2006 and concluded, "far from being civically oriented, young people born after 1982 are the most narcissistic generation in recent history." Narcissists, "lack empathy for others, are aggressive when insulted, seek public glory and favor self enhancement over helping others look good." They are also, "more likely to be materialistic and to seek attention and fame."

Based on what I see around campus I'm inclined to believe what the study says is true. It's sort of ironic that for all the "global village" talk surrounding the internet what we seem to be creating is a network of shallow, self-obsessed vacuums.

I wonder if this will last. It seems like a big part of the charge that we get out of creating our own web page or posting a video on YouTube stems from the fact that we grew up in world where being on TV or in the newspaper was a rarity and caried some actual weight. Will there be a big letdown as we begin to realize that these things aren't actually unique. Or maybe things will keep going as they are, marketers constantly learning to target consumers more, reinforcing their notions of self-importance. Maybe, in the future, instead of everyone being famous for 15 minutes, we all get to be famous forever because the only world we live in is the one we create in our own heads.

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