Media and Narcissism

While reading The App Generation, I found that there were a lot of quotes connecting media and technology to attitudes of narcissism. Authors Howard Gardner and Katie Davis first acknowledge that, "Individualism goes hand in hand with a focus on the self." Because the United States is an individualistic nation, we are bound to have more self-centered citizens as opposed to a more collectivist nation. However, when psychologists surveyed college students using the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) they found that, "...only 19 percent of college students taking the test in the early 1980's scored above 21 (considered a high score). By the mid- to late 2000's, fully 30 percent of students scored over 21." This information seems to confirm that narcissism is on the rise in America. One potential cause of this uprise in self-centeredness could stem from greater access to the internet and media over the last couple of decades.

Gardner and Davis quote an educator who sees a connection between social media and narcissism: "As soon as somebody buzzes you on your phone it's like 'somebody is paying attention to me.' Facebook, 'oh, I got fifty likes on that stupid picture I put up there, I guess people are paying attention to me.' I mean it's so narcissistic, and I'm not saying that [kids] were less narcissistic [before the Internet], there are jus tore ways to be validated now with that." The teacher makes a good point; while it may not be clear whether or not the Internet is creating narcissists, it certainly seems plausible that the Internet may be, at the very least, encouraging those who have slight tendencies toward narcissistic behavior to flout their self-obsession through social media venues.

Gardner and Davis also say, "...it's worth noting that about 30 to 40 percent of ordinary conversation consists of people talking about themselves, whereas around 80 percent of social media updates are self-focused." While this is a fascinating statistic, social media is designed for self-promotion and for sharing things about oneself. Social media is not a conversation and therefore, it seems a bit unfair to compare these two different aspects of communication in this way. I agree that social media must be promoting narcissism in one way or another, but a more interesting statistic would compare how often social media users talk about themselves in a face-to-face conversation as opposed to someone who does not participate in social media.

Clearly, narcissism is on the rise in America. What is not as clear is what factors contribute to this particular mindset. The Internet, the media, social networks, and technology in general may be large contributors to this self-centered state of mind, but until more research is done we can only speculate.