Is it just me or are there more narcissists than there used to be?
I suppose it is a which-came-first-chicken-or-egg-or-frying-pan? question to try to sort out whether blogging and tweeting have simply released our inner mirror gazers, or whether social media have become popular because there is a narcissism gene, or whether social media are causing a rapid mutation in humans to develop such a gene.
Overall, I must say that I find narcissism more becoming in cats.
P.S. I would be interested in hearing your experiences. I work with a supreme narcissist so I have always got stories to share…
I’m always looking for an excuse to blame social media for something. Thanks! Yes…it’s all Facebook’s fault.
Actually I think social media is (are?) the bee’s knees and the be-all, end-all, not to mention sick. However, I agree that ultimately everything has to be Facebook’s fault.
I was married to a narcissist but he was something of a luddite – lots of people think that there’s been a surge in narcissism because of the entitlement issues of the under-30s and that their parents are responsible for generating this, not Facebook.
That makes sense for many of the garden variety narcissists I have encountered. But come to think of it, all of the world class narcissists that I know are well over 30. And, while they are not luddites, they are not particularly locked in with social media either. Genetic component with multiple triggers, perhaps?
I reading I have done would indicate that this is a strong possibility, particularly if they are then raised by a narcissistic parent or two. My ex-narcissist had an alcoholic mother and a very distant, uninvolved father. This was then compounded by the death of his 11-year-old bother at his father’s lumber mill. The genetics together with the environmental situation created a recipe for disaster, particularly for those who become involved with him.
Interesting. And very sad.
I have noticed many more narcissistic behaviors in my own life over the past few years. But maybe that’s just a natural response to everyone else’s always making it all about them– for me to have any impact at all, I have to insist on being the center of the universe every once in a while.
I read an Onion article recently about a new mom who had started a blog in order to share everything she experienced as a parent, because it was oh-so-meaningful and nobody else had ever done anything like it before. It made me laugh… and blush.
Yeah I can see that. Let me tell you about me is the new normal.
I’m thinking that, later today, I will become the first person to post cat pictures to a blog.