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Is Social Media Making Us More Narcissistic?
FEBRUARY 24, 2016 5:08 AM February 24, 2016 5:08 am
Are social media like Facebook turning us into narcissists? The Times online feature Room for Debate invites knowledgeable outside contributors to discuss questions like this one as well as news events and other timely issues. Related ArticleCredit Dado Ruvic/Reuters
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Do you spend too much time trying to be attractive and interesting to others? Are you just a little too in love with your own Instagram feed?
An essay addressing those questions was chosen by two of our Student Councilmembers this week. Angie Shen explains why she thinks it’s important:
As the generation who grew up with social media, a reflection on narcissism is of critical importance to teenagers. What are the psychological and ethical implications of constant engagement with or obsession over social media? How does it change our relationship with others and how we see ourselves?
My teenage son recently informed me that there is an Internet quiz to test oneself for narcissism. His friend had just taken it. “How did it turn out?” I asked. “He says he did great!” my son responded. “He got the maximum score!”
When I was a child, no one outside the mental health profession talked about narcissism; people were more concerned with inadequate self-esteem, which at the time was believed to lurk behind nearly every difficulty. Like so many excesses of the 1970s, the self-love cult spun out of control and is now rampaging through our culture like Godzilla through Tokyo.
A 2010 study in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science found that the percentage of college students exhibiting narcissistic personality traits, based on their scores on the Narcissistic Personality Inventory, a widely used diagnostic test, has increased by more than half since the early 1980s, to 30 percent. In their book “Narcissism Epidemic,” the psychology professors Jean M. Twenge and W. Keith Campbell show that narcissism has increased as quickly as obesity has since the 1980s. Even our egos are getting fat.
It has even infected our political debate. Donald Trump? “Remarkably narcissistic,” the developmental psychologist Howard Gardner told Vanity Fair magazine. I can’t say whether Mr. Trump is or isn’t a narcissist. But I do dispute the assertion that if he is, it is somehow remarkable.
This is a costly problem. While full-blown narcissists often report high levels of personal satisfaction, they create havoc and misery around them. There is overwhelming evidence linking narcissism with lower honesty and raised aggression. It’s notable for Valentine’s Day that narcissists struggle to stay committed to romantic partners, in no small part because they consider themselves superior.
The full-blown narcissist might reply, “So what?” But narcissism isn’t an either-or characteristic. It’s more of a set of progressive symptoms (like alcoholism) than an identifiable state (like diabetes). Millions of Americans exhibit symptoms, but still have a conscience and a hunger for moral improvement. At the very least, they really don’t want to be terrible people.
Students: Read the entire article, then tell us …
— Do you recognize yourself or your friends or family in any of the descriptions in this article? Are you sometimes too fixated on collecting “likes” and thinking about how others see you?
— What’s the line between “healthy self-love” that “requires being fully alive at this moment, as opposed to being virtually alive while wondering what others think,” and unhealthy narcissism? How can you stay on the healthy side of the line?
— Did you take the test? What did it tell you about yourself?
Henry Xu, another Student Council member who recommended this article, suggests these questions:
— What about Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and other social media feeds makes them so hard to put down?
— Do you think this writer’s proposal of a “social media fast” is a viable way to combat narcissism?
— For those who aren’t as attached to social media, do challenges from an overinflated sense of self still arise? If so, from where?
— If everyone is becoming more narcissistic, does that make narcissism necessarily a bad thing?
Sometimes I do realize that I am caught up on Instagram checking how many likes I got a on picture or how many followers I have. I know that my friends and family do the same thing. Like some people are obsessed with themselves. I think that people should have respect for themselves and their bodies. Some people think like yolo let's just live in the moment and be alive, but sometimes that's not good. I think that people can be less narcissistic. If they do not always be selfish that will help. If they also actually care about other people and care about themselves, that will make them a better person. If they don't over obsess over things on social media, then they will be on the healthy side of it all. I did take the narcissistic test. I got a 19 out of 40. I believe that was a good score in a way because it shows that I am not narcissistic. I don't really do things for attention, i just go with the flow. Henry Xu also was questioning these types of things. Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and other social medias are hard to let go of. People are so obsessed with knowing if someone is liking, commenting, or seeing their posts. They can get so narcissistic when they know people are watching them. They have to be the center of attention. I think that the writers proposal of a “social media fast” is a visible way to combat narcissism. I also think that people can really understand it better once they have been on social media for a while. I mean I have to admit that I do sometime check how many likes I have on Instagram or something along those lines. Some people live their life over social media and that can change them sadly. People have to realize that their is so much more than everything on the internet. If people take the narcissism test and get a highs score they should try to change themselves. They should not be so caught up with themselves.
ReplyDeleteBrianna I totally agree with you. Some people need to be less narcissistic by being less selfish to others. Also, that some people get caught up in the moment when they are on social media.
DeleteI totally agree with what you said. People are getting caught up in likes and themselves. People don't realize how deep they are into social media, and it can change them.
DeleteI agree with you, Brianna. We totally get caught up in how many like and followers we have on social media. I sometime here this on a daily basis, "How many followers do you have?"
DeleteI don't see why people get so hung up about it.
I completely agree with you brianna. All your views on the situation are very similar to mine. It shouldnt matter how many likes you get on a post however; people including myself are so infactuated with the likes they get. Sometimes its ridiculous.
DeleteAfter reading this article, I do recognize some of my friends in the descriptions. Some of the descriptions in the reading made me think of some of my friends. I’m not that fixated on getting the most likes on my photos. If I like something I’ll post about it even if other people don’t like it. If I like something I don’t pay attention to what other people have to say about it or how they view me. To me I think the line between self-love that requires being fully alive in the moment, as opposed to being virtually alive while wondering what others think is that self love that you are going to get from real people around you is the only thing thing that should matter to you in that moment. Whatever people are saying about you won’t matter in that moment. You should only care about what makes you happy no matter what people have to say about you online. If you are just wondering what other people think about you online and not paying attention to yourself in the real world, you’re never going to be able to accept yourself for who you are. The test results showed me that I’m not narcissistic as most people in the US. I feel that it’s hard for people to put down social media sites like snapchat and instagram because people like to share everything about themselves to others. Some people also like to show themselves off to other people online. I think the writers proposal in the article can be a good way to combat narcissism. The article can show people their bad ways and make them realize that thinking they’re better than others isn’t the way to go. It can show that other people’s opinions don’t matter. You should only care about how you feel about yourself. For people that don’t have social media, they can still have an overinflated sense of self. It mostly happens in school when other people judge them so they feel that they need to change just for them and feel that they need to be better than everyone else. I think that more people are becoming narcissistic now. People now only care about how people feel about them on social media.many people are only caring about how they are viewed by other people online.
ReplyDeleteSam, i completely agree with you. I basically said the same thing about narcissism. I agree with the whole posting stuff and not really caring if people like my posts or not.
DeleteI agree with you Sam. You shouldn't be fixated on what you post or show on social media. PLus, when you do post something, who cares if someone else deosn't like it. Like you said, you liked that something and decided to post it, and it doesn't matter if everyone else likes it or not.
DeleteSam, i completely agree with you. Your Instagram page is yours, you can post what ever you want. It doesn't have to live up to anyone elses standards but yours. Nobody should judge people by the popularity they have on their page and the levels of narcissism and how they are increasing is actually starting to scare me.
DeleteSam I agree with you. You should post whatever you feel like posting on your Instagram page. Don't let negative people affect what you post on your page. Finally people shouldn't worry about how many likes they get on their post, all that should matter is that they like it.
DeleteAfter reading that article I see people I am close with fitting into the description. Everyone in our generation is worried about getting likes, they want people to like what they post. I know when I post something I hope people like what I post. I think everyone is worried about how everyone sees them. I mean you don’t want your crush thinking that the picture you posted was bad. Everyone always says ‘I don’t care what people think of me’ but we really do. We want to know why the person leaving hearts eyes on my picture thinks I’m so pretty, and I want to know why the girl rolling her eyes at me is doing that. No one wants to be known as a bad person.
ReplyDeleteThe line between healthy self-love and unhealthy narcissism is the way you talk about yourself, and how you act when you talk about yourself. I think everyone should love themselves, and if they don’t they need someone to show them why they should love themselves. You don’t need to talk about how pretty you are, but it’s bound to happen. If you bring it up upon yourself by saying ‘OMG I’m so pretty’ then you’re narcissistic, but when someone asks if you think that you’re pretty it’s ok to say yes, but when you’re like ‘duh’ or ‘well obviously’ then we can all be allowed to say you’re full of yourself.
I took the test and it tells me that I’m quite the opposite from being narcissistic. I got a 12/40, the lower the number the less of a narcissist you are.
I think it’s hard to let go of the social media because we’re all afraid of being left out on the one twitter fight, or the one video that Sam posted while he was with Jenna. We’re nosey and want to see what everyone’s doing, and we like seeing all the cool places that they keep posting pictures of. I think people who are less connected with friends can talk to them and connect with them more because we can snapchat them, or see what they posted on instagram.
Just because more people are becoming narcissistic, doesn’t make it a good thing. It’s scary, that our world is becoming something gross and unbearable. It shouldn’t be a common thing, that’s so stupid. Why should we allow people to become so selfish? Why not tell them that they are so uptight about themselves. We are so worried about ourselves and so selfish that it changes the good girl in the back of the class that never talked into a bitch that everyone wants to stay away from.
If more and more people are becoming narcissistic that it’s going to be a common thing, then someone needs to step up and change the way we view ourselves and other people.
I totally agree with you. Everyone now a days are so caught up in what people think about themselves that they forgot to recognize how they see themselves and the people around them, not from social media point of view. On social media, everything is filtered and staged while in real like yousee the real people for who they are.
DeleteI personally don't recognize myself in the descriptions in this article. I can relate to a friend who definitely relates to this article. On a serious note who isn't fixated on collecting "likes". I mean if you say your not then you are clearly lying to yourself. Everybody wants likes on their pictures and most people are thinking about how others see them. Most people are so worried about what they look like in a photo they will ask their closet friends if they should post it or not. The line between "healthy self-love" that requires being fully alive at this moment, as opposed to being virtually alive while wondering what others think", is a very a big line. I mean yes it good to love yourself and to live alive but not to the point where you are obsessed with yourself and nonstop post pictures of yourself. Unhealthy narcissism is basically when your ego is way too big, I mean its good to be proud of yourself and what you look like. Just dont brag and bring others down. You can stay on the healthy side of the line by posting pictures that you like of yourself, not want other people would want to see. I took the test and it told me I was 18 out of 40 which isn't bad i guess at least I'm not narcissistic. What makes Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and other social media feeds so hard to put down is everybody likes to see what their friends are doing. Its also fun to look at all the pictures famous people post. Also, reading all the funny and interesting stories people most on their feed. Its just interesting to know what your friends are doing. I think the writers proposal of a "social media fast" is a viable way to combat narcissism. Since the writer has a very open mind on the whole situation its easy to get an understanding of both sides and its easy to understand how people can be narcissistic. Those who aren't as attached to social media, challenges from an overinflated sense self still arise from people telling them how good they look. Also, from the way they just are and how they always need to look good when they go out places so they can get compliments. All in all, I personally think everybody is becoming more narcissistic, I mean sometimes it good to feel good about yourself, It doesn't make narcissism necessarily a bad thing it just means that everybody is feeling good about themselves and what they look like.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Tori. Basically everyone is focused on how many likes they get. It really just happens to the best of us.
DeleteThe impression of social media is becoming more apparent with every new generation. Slowly pushing people to the point of narcissism, which can be in no way a good thing. Girls younger than 13 are posing and taking selfies to appear more attractive, which is a terrible thing for young people across the entire world. Since websites such as; Facebook, Instagram, etc. came out people were dressing themselves up and sexualizing themselves which is not a good thing at all. I believe that the slow increase of narcissism and self consciousness is terrible for high schoolers, middle schoolers, and at this point, even elementary schoolers. I have noticed my 10 year old sister putting on makeup and using metric tons of product to make herself look “pretty.” I think that this whole movement is showing how quickly people will completely change themselves just to become acceptable in their group of friends and social group. At this point the young men and women of America are living their lives like they were a novelty, people completely change themselves in how they act, talk, look, etc. just because it’s what people are doing across their social horizon. But I believe that people should just take it down a few notches. Changing your look is ok if it makes you happy, but applying paint and mascara to your face, dressing up to look more sexualized are two things that should not become the socially acceptable norm. I think that people should not have to act differently to make friends or to look “hot” to guys or girls. People should live their life like they like it’s theirs, not Facebooks or Snapchats. I have seen people change to become more socially acceptable. My close friend was chatting with me and being nice, then when a popular friend of his came into the chat, he started blowing me off and I think that that kind of action will become more and more apparent if people keep on becoming more narcissistic. I have just lived my life for these past few years under a life lesson of, “Live life like a duck, if people don’t like you don’t give a...”
ReplyDeleteI don’t see myself and most of my friends and family as narcissists. I try to be very modest. I care about myself but don’t try too hard to look good to other people. Being the best or better than others isn’t a priority for me but I like to try to look good and not be completely careless. If people care too much about themselves than I think it’s a bad thing. People shouldn’t focus too much on themselves because it might make them worry too much about their appearance and personality. Caring too much about yourself can make people act fake or try too hard to look good in the eyes of other people which I think is a bad thing. Looking good to others does matter especially in a professional world if you’re trying for a job. People shouldn’t give up and not try at all to look good people I don’t think it’s good if people try too hard. Social media is probably a big problem to people becoming narcissistic because on social media people put themselves out in front of a whole world of people. Since someone posting a picture is going to be seen by a lot of people they want to look their best so people don’t think bad of them. This could easily turn into a habit and make people constantly try to look better than others. Like I said before looking good is a positive but going overboard with it is not. I don’t know too many narcissistic people because I try to be friends with more modest people. There are some narcissistic people in my family who care a lot about likes and how they look all the time and it looks like it isn’t good for them because they try really hard to look good and gain likes. Most people I know are pretty modest and don’t worry about looking good or better to everyone else. Not worrying about those things makes life a lot easier because people constantly trying to look the best will always be on their mind.
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ReplyDeleteI don't really see any of my family being narcissist because my family is caring and not all about being the best of everything like that. If somebody i like in a bad mood or anything they will help and not laugh at them or do anything like that. Overall they are just caring and helpful and not all the best. They line ‘’healthy self-love’’ means that you do think about yourself but not on a level where all you think about is yourself. You will be willing to help people and not be that snobby person. You can stay on the healthy of things by helping out other people and caring for that. Once you do things for people and respect them you will get respect in return from them. If you become a likable person you will be respected a lot and people will want to be around you. When i took this test it showed me that i am not that narcissistic. I am a little bit but not that bad. I am a very likable and respectable person along with caring and helpful. I do indeed use all those social media sites but it hasn't all affected me that much. Like it hasn't changed the way that i act or anything like that. I basically just use it to talk to my friends or stuff like that. No it isn't a way to combat it by using social media. If anything it will make you more of a narcissist if you use it the wrong way. If you don't get mixed up in drama and anything that is what make you change into one. Yes it does arise but not as much because if you aren't mixed up in drama and everything then it won't affect you as much as someone who does use social media. Yes and no because they could ruin things and change things. It could end up making you mean and everything or someone truly nice.
Justin I totally agree with you. Being non-narcissistic is definetly a positive. It makes people more likeable and respectable. And you have a good point that social media can affect people but not everyone.
DeleteJustin I agree. You made some good points. Social media controls some people. Also that being narcissistic is a bad quality and that you shouldn't be narcissistic
DeleteI do recognize myself and other friends to be on the narcissist side. We automatically turn to social media to see what people think about us. We see our self worth based on how many likes, followers, friends etc. we have. We are so self absorbed with our photos we post and our statuses we state. There is a fine line between having self love and self love all over the internet fishing for likes and compliments. To stay on the healthy side, the first step would be to stay away from all social media. Instead of messaging and tweeting each other we can actually talk to each other. Instead of checking in at cool vacation sites, we can send post cards. Or instead of texting to catch up with an old friend, you can meet them for lunch. I should follow these steps because I took the test and my result ended up being very high. I got a 29 out of 40. At first it hadn’t shocked me because i knew how vain I was toward myself but then i realized how much i really do depend on social media to tell me what I am and how i should live or how to make myself better. Instagram, Facebook and snapchat are so addicting and important to our everyday lives because we like to see what everyones up to. No matter how private you set your accounts or how you monitor it, somehow everyone sees where you are at every second of the day, and miraculously, we are okay with that. Fasting ourselves would be a good as to conquer social media narcissism. If we can go a week without using our social media accounts, i suppose we can go forever without them. If they doesn't work out, we could ultimately limit ourselves to a few hours a day. People without social media still inflict with self narcissism. They may get it from being around people and fishing for compliments. Purposely showing off their bodies to receive positive feedback from their peers. I think if everyone is becoming a narcissist then it would be a bad thing. If all we have is love for ourselves, we won't have the love nor the respect for everyone else. We wouldn't know where and when to stop loving ourselves and treating others with the same love and respect as we do for ourselves.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I do feel like I get caught up in how I look or if people will like something that I’m wearing. I do feel like sometimes I think that it really matters how good I look or how many likes my instagram picture gets. I fit the description that is the main idea of the articles and so do people I know. I know that it doesn’t matter how people other than the people I truly care about think about me. Many other people are caught up in the whole “the more likes I get, the more people like me.” It’s just an instinct I guess you could call it. At one point or another, everyone acts narcissistic. I feel like it happens to people without them realizing the reality and truly being self-absorbed. At one point or another, people might want to feel like other people think that they’re pretty. It would probably just be a self conscious thing that people need to make themselves feel better. I know this because it happens to the best of us, and even to me. We get too caught up in how other people think of us. I did take the test and my score was a 10. Even though I can get self absorbed sometimes, I don’t like being the leader or having people think I’m controlling or even have authority over them. Many other people would be far better leaders than me. Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and other social media feeds make them so hard to put down. These social media services are just addicting and so hard to put down. This is the case with me and some of my other friends. We are just always on our phones even when we hang out together. We won’t pay attention to our surroundings and focus on our phones, another piece of technology that is addicting. People should have limits, and those are just almost always broken. For those who aren’t as attached to social media, challenges from an overinflated sense of self may not arise as frequently for those who are attached to social media. They may not care so much about their appearance or how others think of them. Even though after joining social media, with more and more people becoming narcissistic, it doesn’t make it a good thing. Being self absorbed is really never a good thing. It could get out of control and most times, it really does. I think that the writer’s proposal of a “social media fast” is not really a long-term viable way to combat narcissism. It may temporarily stop making people care more about themselves than others, but what about when the “fast” ends? People will go back to being caught up in what others think.
ReplyDeleteI don’t really see my family members as described in the article, but I do know people that fit in the description. The line between healthy self-love and unhealthy narcissism is the way you act around people and how you talk about yourself. If someone talks about themselves like their better than everyone, then that’s the unhealthy side of self-love. You can stay on the healthy side if you just consciously think about staying humble, or maybe a little less narcissistic. Social media is so hard to put down because billions of people are constantly on them. With these social media sites you can see everything that is happening currently around the world the second it happens, and sometimes you really don’t need it. Some people are too addicted to the media sites and too caught up on getting likes on posts. It’s measuring your social status and seeing what other people think about you, and that is a problem. For the people that check their feed every hour it would be kind of hard for them to go on a “social media fast” because it’s so instinctive that it would be weird for them not to do it. But it would be a way to help some people to be less addicted to their social media. For those who aren’t as attached to social media, overinflation of themselves can come from the people they hang out with. Their personality can rub off on other people and they can start to act like them. Narcissism is a bad thing, no matter how many people are narcissistic. Just because a lot of people are doesn’t make it less bad to be that way. It says that narcissism can raise aggression and lower honesty in people. That alone is a bad characteristic to have. A way to change this is to not try to impress others as much, or to act kindly to everyone even people you don’t like. So overall, I think that narcissism is a problem that people need to be aware of and to try practicing selflessness, kindness, and other healthy traits.
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ReplyDeleteI think narcissism is NOT a good thing. The reason for this is because if everybody is obsessed with themselves, the society around us changes. Suddenly, people don’t care for one another, and then nobody is nice, and they only care about themselves. It makes the world around us just a worse place. Could you imagine a world where every single day, you woke up to crime out in the streets, just crime everywhere. Because nobody cared about the consequences that came after. Because nobody cared about anyone else. That would be horrible! I definitely think people should love themselves, because it is definitely helps with self esteem, and being a good individual. But, there is a fine line between loving yourself a little, and full blown narcissism. If you are posting things on social media JUST to get likes and comments, something’s wrong. If you are OBSESSED with yourself, that’s bad. Un narcissistic people would post just for fun, or just for others to see what their friends are up to. If it becomes to the point to where you are jealous of other people’s things, or you feel YOU should have it, that’s bad. But, I do think social media does make us narcissistic. It is very addicting to post pictures of yourself, especially if you have good friends, they will compliment the crap out of you (expecting you to do the same to them) out of a self esteem reassurance thing, but in the long run makes us kind of full of ourselves. I mean come on, posting picture after picture on instagram and having all these girls tell you “wow you’re so pretty” and “you’re perfect” with heart emojis all over them, I think every girl at one point would start to think “Wow I’m an amazing super awesome person! Everyone should love me!”
All in all, I do think social media does make people more self absorbed, but only with some of us. There’s nothing we can really do to stop it, and it is what it is, I guess. If you’re a good person, then great. If you’re not, then I guess you’re not. There will always be bad people in this world, and if you’re a good person, you’ll try your best to not be very self absorbed.
I agree with you Josh.If everyone is obsessed with themselves than no one in society will care about anyone.People have to stop focusing on social media.
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ReplyDeleteI do not see my self constantly checking for likes, I rarely ever even go on social media. I only go on when I am taged in a picture and I look to see, who posted the picture and what is going on in that picture. A way you can stay on the healthy side of the line is to have thick skin. Take the hate and tell yourself “They only say that becaise the want to be like me.” Don’t let what others say force you to stay are the mirror longer, and look for mistakes that aren’t there. I took the test and I got a 10 out of 40, and it told me I was lonley and didn’t have many friends. I disagree with that, I have friends I just prefer to be a backround rather then be in the spotlight. Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and other forms of social media are so hard to put down because they show you what people are doing at that moment. You get caught up and you end up just scrolling and scrolling through the feed. The reader says that a “social media fast” could slove this narcissism style. I agree with him, if people just take w weekend without going on thier social media they’ll be able to see what the world really is like and be able to meet people. Once I saw a commercial, of two parrellel univeres, one had a man with his phone out looking at something, the other had the same man not holdong his phone. A women walked by in both, the man holding his phone ignored her, but the man without his phone said hi and they ended up going out to get coffee. This shows that haveing your phone out changes what happenes with your life. As I am not attached to social media I still get the little voice in the back of my head telling me, “Change you look like a slob” every once in a while. Even without social media I still am narcissism.
No, i did not recognize any of my friends or family members in the article because we all care for each other and know everybody is the same. No i am not fixated on collecting likes and about how others see me because i know that we are all people and we are equal. The line is that you should realize what is going on around you and see everyone as the same for you. You shouldn’t let yourself get caught up in your social media and your appearance and know that people will accept you just the way you are. When i took the test, it showed me that i am not narcissistic and don’t worry about myself at all. I don’t care much about what i do on social media and how i look. I worry about others more than me and would take orders from them and do what they need. I don’t enjoy being a leader and know i wouldn’t make a great one since i don’t like the center of attention and like to blend in with everyone else. It made me realize I am just like everyone else, and don’t worry about me too much. I enjoy helping others and making their happiness come first. What makes it hard for everyone to put down their social media is because they want the attention and be like others that are more popular, when really everyone is equal. They want to feel like they are being accepted and feel like people are giving attention to them. They don’t realize that they are already accepted by others, and if they are trying to get the center of attention, they are really making their lives a bit more complicated. I think the writer’s proposal is a viable way to combat narcissism because it greatly explains the consequences of narcissism to try and show people what could happen to them if trying to go for authority. To the ones not attached to social media, i think a sense of self still rises because with the social media, others are reaching out to each other and learning more about each other, leaving you behind and could see you as a nobody. I think everyone is becoming narcissistic these days now that social media is becoming more and more popular and making people have their lives revolve around it. With certain people becoming popular and better than others, it's making people want to become like them since they feel they aren't good enough. They feel they need the likes and attention to feel accepted.
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ReplyDeleteI don’t see myself and my family as narcissists.I don’t try to make myself extremely attractive and interesting on my Instagram profile.I care about myself and what other people think of me but I'm not to the point where I care about me and only me.Im very laid back when it comes to my appearance and personality.Im not always on top of what people are gonna think of me and how people are going to judge me.I know lots of people that are like that,that care about what people will think of them on their Instagram profile.Social media is making people way to narcissitic and its becoming a big issue.People are starting to care only about themselves and no one else and its hurting peoples morales.People are prefocusing on themselves and not caring about other people.Its human nature for people to care about themselves more than others sometimes but social media is making people acting like this all the time.I can sometimes care about myself more than others and I can narcissistic about it.But I dont take it to the point where Im like that about everything.I can sometimes worry about how much likes I get on Instagram and it bothers me if I don’t get a lot of likes but I won’t worry about.I took the narcissistic test and I got an 18 out of 40.To me it shows that I’m not as narcisssitc as I think I am.People have to realize that there is so much more to the world than their Instagram profile.They have to take a step back from caring about their personality and apperance so much and go and live and be themselves.
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DeleteI agree with you rudy. You make some good points. I dont see myself or my family as narcacists either and its something that we shouldnt be worried about.
DeleteI don't myself or my family matching any of the descriptions in the article. My parents don’t use social media very much, but when they do they don’t get caught up in what others think about them. My sister and I are on social media almost everyday and we both have instagrams, however we don’t worry about how others feel about our posts or how many likes we get. We post stuff that we like and enjoy not what others enjoy. My family and I want to be liked by others, but if others don’t have anything good to say then we don’t care about what they say. The line “healthy self love” means that you have love for yourself and you don’t let others bring you down.You stay on the healthy side of the line by not worrying what others think of you or about how many likes you get. The unhealthy side of the line is people who care what others think about them and how many likes they get. If you are like this you can get miserable and depressed pretty quickly because people often don’t have good things to say and try to bring others down. I did not take the test,but I might because I am interested to see how i would do on it. I think I would do good,however i don’t think my friends would. Instagram, snapchat,and facebook makes it hard to put your phone down because people caught up in what others are doing. They want to see what is going on in their friends and family's life. Although some people like me go on instagram to get updates on sports, so it isn’t all about seeing your friends post. I do think people who aren’t attached to social media still have self esteem problems too. They can either arise from school or at work. Someone can say something mean to them at school or work and they might let it affect them. Sometimes saying something mean in person can hurt more than saying something over social media. People like to talk crap on social media because they are hiding behind a screen, but they won’t say it to the person’s face.
ReplyDeleteAfter I finished reading this article I actually realized how common these descriptions are with the people at school. Some of the descriptions in the reading made me think of some of my friends. I’m not that fixated on getting the most likes on my photos. If I like something I’ll post about it even if other people don’t like it. If I like something I don’t pay attention to what other people have to say about it or how they view me. To me I think the line between self-love that requires being fully alive in the moment, as opposed to being virtually alive while wondering what others think is that self love that you are going to get from real people around you is the only thing thing that should matter to you in that moment. Whatever people are saying about you won’t matter in that moment. The thing you should only care about what makes you happy no matter what people have to say about you online. If you are just wondering what other people think about you online and not paying attention to yourself in the real world, you’re never going to be able to accept yourself for who you are. The test results showed me that I’m not narcissistic as most people in the US. I think that it is really hard for people to put down social media sites l because they are too focused on how people think about them and others. Some people also like to show themselves off to other people online. I actually think the writers proposal in the article can be a good way to combat narcissism. The article can show people their bad ways and make them realize that thinking they’re better than others isn’t the way to go. It can show that other people’s opinions don’t matter. You should only care about how you feel about yourself. For people that don’t have social media, they can still have an overinflated sense of self. It mostly happens in school when other people judge them so they feel that they need to change just for them and feel that they need to be better than everyone else. I think that more people are becoming narcissistic now. People need to not pay attention to social media as much and pay attention to the real world because all people are too busy on focusing on how people think of them on social media that they are not paying attention to the real world.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you Tristan. Many people are starting to become narcissist. I could see that all around people have to post their own thoughts. People should just except themselves and care less about other people.
DeleteI don’t really see me, my family, and my friends as narcissist. I think that social media is making us more narcissistic. The definition of narcissistic is having an excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one's physical appearance. There are many apps that can make you this way. One of the main ones is Facebook. Facebook has about 1 billion users worldwide. It keeps people on touch online with a network of friends. You could have hundreds or thousands of friends on Facebook. But does that help us become more popular? That will be a no. But me, I am not really narcissist. I don’t really act this way because I would rather hang out with my friends and family then just looking good to other people. If you just try to look perfect so other people can see, then you don’t really have any fun with your life. But what I would do, I can help people and have fun in life without people judging me. Once you do things for people and respect them you will get respect in return from them. If you become a likable person you will be respected a lot and people will want to be around you. I think that people should like and love themselves and not judging yourself when you look in the mirror. When I took the narcissistic test, it said that I wasn’t a narcissistic. So that was good, for me at least. With certain people becoming popular and better than others, it's making people want to become like them since they feel they aren't good enough. They feel they need the likes and attention to feel accepted. Some people will do anything that will make them popular or just to get noticed. So make accounts on social media to get noticed by everybody. Not worrying about those things makes life a lot easier because people constantly trying to look the best will always be on their mind. Being a narcissistic is only about yourself. While being yourself is the best thing in the world.
ReplyDeleteIn the article, “Narcissism Is Increasing, So You’re Not So Special” I can recognize myself or one of my friends and family as one of the descriptions listed. Narcissisms want to be superior and be better than everyone around them. Unfortunately, I know a few people that are like this. However, I must say that I am sometimes fixtuated on “likes” and how people see me because I want to be know as a nice person towards people in this community of people that I am around nearly everyday. “Healthy self loving” is completely different from unhealthy narcissism. Healthy self loving is taking care of yourself and having positivity within you. You love your life and you don’t care how people look at you or how they think of you. Unhealthy narcissism, however, means you’re full of yourself and you want to be liked by everyone you meet in a single day. To stay on the healthy side of the line, you must get rid of the part of you that cares so much what people think, better known as negativity. I did take the test that was provided and It told me that I was at a greater level of Narcissism then 62.8 of the sample.
ReplyDeleteInstagram, Snapchat, Facebook and other types of social media are so hard to put down because we constantly want to see who liked your post or who watched your story. Social media notifications make you drawn to you phone or computer and keep you there, even if nothing new is posted or happening. Its sad, actually. I think that being “social media fast” is a viable way to combat narcissism because you won't put yourself down while comparing yourself to others. Without social media, you won’t be able to look at other people or celebrities and think that you can't compare to them. For people who aren’t attached to social media, challenges do still arise from being overinflated in sense of self because they have no one else to compare themselves to accept for the people they're around everyday. The cause of this is from family members, friends, and sport teams. If more and more people become narcissistic, it would be a bad thing because everyone would be arguing with each other about who is better than who. It wouldn't be such a normal world then, would it? Everyone is different, just imagine what'd it be like if we were all narcissistic. I’d be absolutely crazy. In Conclusion, Narcissism is slowly over our society as we know it. We just haven't noticed it yet.
I agree with everything you said Gabby. Although sometimes we are fixated on looking nice and getting likes, we still stay positive and make sure we are happy with our selves. Instead of people being happy with us.
DeleteI do not recognize any of my friends or family in any of the descriptions in this article. My friends and family are not narcissistic people. They care about other people and are not obsessed with themselves. Also, I am not too fixated on collecting “likes” and thinking about how others see me. I believe that people shouldn't care about, what others think of them. If someone looks cute in a picture they should post it and not care about how many likes it gets. Everyone is entitled to there opinion, but it's only one person's opinion counts, your opinion that is what really counts. There is a huge line between healthy self loving and non-healthy self loving. Healthy self loving, is being able to accept how you are, and not caring what others thinks of you. Non-healthy self loving, is always needing to look perfect, and always being worried what people think about you. People who are usually all about themselves. To stay on the healthy side, you have to not only accept yourself, but other people. You have to believe some people are better than you at different things. After taking the test, it told me that I am not a narcissistic person. I do not need someone's opinion of me, to make me happy. Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat and other social media feeds are sometimes hard to put down. I believe people want to know what's going on in other people's lives and compare it themselves. People want to see how many likes and comments they get, and see what there friends are doing. I do think this writer’s proposal of a “social media fast” is a viable way to combat narcissism. If everyone is becoming narcissistic, it still makes narcissism a bad thing. Teenagers care more about their outside then their inside, or what other people think of them. Being obsessed with yourself is not a good thing, it's good for your confidence, but not good for others around you. To think you are the best at everything and are an amazing person is just plain old annoying.
ReplyDeleteAlyssa, I totally agree with you. You should care about other people than yourself. Also, teenagers should care more about other things.
DeleteHonestly, i do not care how many likes i collect on a photo. I post things on social media because maybe i like the picture or it's a memory i wanted to share. I do hear people complain that they only have 70 likes and it gets annoying because your happiness shouldn't depend on the amount of likes you get on instagram. I did take the test and i got a score of 2 out of 40. It shows that i'm not narcissistic. I don't care about showing off and i also do not think i'm the only person in the world like some people. Most of the time, i will put people before me and worry about myself later. I think the addiction to social media is because of the need for the attention online. People crave the popularity they get online and that's why they are so addicted. With this article, you can not combat narcissism because a lot of people will get offended and decide to fight this or ignore it. Challenges for people who don't have social media do not tend to arise unless they are socially popular but there is also a huge chance the people who are popular, have social media. The people who don't have social media usually aren't narcissistic at all because they don't have anything to post about because they do not have social media. If it does arise, it will due to being exposed to social media anyway even if they don't have social media, it can happen from texting and other things, it does not have to be social media. In my opinion, i think the term “Healthy self love” means that you need to love yourself and not let the amount of likes you get determine your worth. We all are worth something and for us to judge people by the amount of popularity they have on a post is just wrong and actually really rude. I wish i lived back in the 1970’s because we didn't need to worry about social media or cell phones. Things have become so complicated because of technology and there can be some advantages but i feel like if things were simpler, our levels of narcissism wouldn't be as high as state averages show.
ReplyDeleteI agree with what you said Danielle, happiness shouldn't depend on what other people think about you. You have to not let others judgement limit you self-worth.
DeleteDanielle, I completely agree with you that we are all worth something. You are right about how technology has become so complicated in the 21 century rather than the 70's.
DeleteAfter reading this article I do realize some people are like the descriptions in this article. Some people are way too into their own photos and how many likes they get. I don’t really care about that though because I think it is stupid. I don’t really post anything at all. I just go on there if I am bored and have nothing better to do. I do not see myself as a narcissist but I do see other people as ones. There are ways to stay on the healthy side though. One way is just to have thick skin and not care what others say or think. Let them think what they think and just work on making yourself a better person. Because who knows what will happen in a few years you might not even talk to half the people you do now. I also took the test and got a 12 out of 40. I didn’t really care about that test think because I thought it was pointless because I think I know who I am. Social media apps like facebook, instagram, snapchat, and other forms of social media are very hard to put down sometimes. I think that because they show what people are doing at the time. People always want to know what other people are doing at the time for some reason. That is why I think those apps are so addicting. The writer also says that a social media fast could solve this narcissism style. I agree with him because people just have to go outside more and see what the real world is like. Just stop going on phones for a while and start doing things with your life and start improving yourself and worrying less about others. Also people that are not attached to social media problems might occur to them but I don’t think it will. It might not make them have as many friends but I do not really see that as a problem. Finally if everybody is become a narcissist I still think that is a problem. That means mainly everybody that is one is a follower really just reading things that other people say and do. They aren’t doing things on their own and they could be easily influenced than. So I think it still is a bad thing.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, it's stupid and a waste of time to worry about what others think about you. I also got a low grade on the test it just shows that you don't worry about what others see.
DeleteSometimes, I do see people with the characteristics described in the article. The way the author described people attached to social media is an actual problem some people have today. When I post something, I can be concerned on how many likes I get. I think part of it could be that there’s a certain satisfaction when receiving a lot of likes that makes us feel that people admire us. It’s like a constant competition; the more likes we get the “more superior” we are but that’s not true at all. What makes you better is your personality and good heart. It’s like a drug because the more likes you get the more you want that attention, and then narcissism keeps growing. However, I don’t care as much how others see me because I just want to be true to myself and not someone fake. There is definitely a difference between a healthy self love and an unhealthy self love. A healthy self love, as said in the article means being happy with yourself without anyone's opinion or approval. Unhealthy self love is obsessing over yourself and caring how others view you. Staying on the healthy line would require learning how to not care what others think, which is much easier said than done. Another thing someone could do is not post as many selfies and trying to make yourself look physically attractive to others. I took the narcissist test and scored 8 out of 40, meaning I’m not that narcissist as other people in the U.S. Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, and other social media can be hard to put down sometimes. I think a reason of this could be because of people wanting the attention like I’ve mentioned before. People become obsessed with their feed and when people give them that attention, it only makes it worse and more worse each time. Thus, creating a cycle that’s difficult to get out of. I think a “social media fast” is a great idea and I support this. All the time, every day, everyone is constantly on social media. I could look down a hallway at school and I’m sure there would be at least someone on their phone. Frankly, this is really unhealthy being stuck in a virtual world and having people take a break for a while is the best thing for them. It would be really beneficial in the long run in waking up into reality and being appreciative of what they have in front of them. No more strained eyes, their posture will be corrected instead of being hunched over the computer, and they would get a good night’s rest. For those who aren’t attached to social media, challenges still arise for them too, for there is a world outside the virtual world. The cause of this could be society that isn’t in presence of social media. Society can be school, work, other public places, and maybe even at home where people can bring pressure upon you to be of their expectations. Just because everyone is doing a trend that is catching on it doesn’t make it right, and this applies to narcissism as well. Narcissism is still a bad thing; with it growing and being around for a while, I don’t think it’s going to go away anytime soon. The best we could do for now is to educate others and decrease narcissism.
ReplyDeleteSocial media is definitely making us more narcissistic.This means we care more about social media than real life. To stay on the safe side, the first step would be to stay away from all social media. Instead of messaging each other we can actually talk to each other. Instead of checking in at cool vacation sites, we can send post cards. Or instead of texting to catch up with an old friend, you can meet them for lunch.Some people get so caught up in social media that they don't care about others in real life. The other day I was out to eat and a couple was on a date. They didn't say one word the whole time. This is because they sat on their phones. That is not healthy. For me I am on social media all the time. Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat are so addicting and important to our everyday lives because we like to see what everyones up to. It is so easy to amuse yourself on social media that is why many people are hooked. No matter how private you set your accounts or how you monitor it, somehow everyone sees where you are at every second of the day, and miraculously, we are okay with that. If we can go a week without using our social media accounts, I suppose we can go forever without them. If they doesn't work out, we could ultimately limit ourselves to a few hours a day. People without social media still inflict with self narcissism. They may get it from being around people and fishing for compliments. Purposely showing off their bodies to receive positive feedback from their peers. I think if everyone is becoming a narcissist then it would be a bad thing. It would mean the world is just showing off to get people to notice them. So we should limit are social media use so we don't get caught up in things. The likes and followers control some people's lives and all they want is more. So we should limit social media to stop being narcissistic.
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