Are We Getting More Narcissistic?

The Greek myth of Narcissus tells the tale of a young man of unparalleled beauty. Within short order, the entire village has fallen in love with him but due to his vanity, he spurns all attempts on his attention. Therefore as punishment for his vanity, the Gods punish him by making him fall in love with his own reflection in a pool. Narcissus then perishes when he finds that he is unable to leave the vision of himself that he has fallen so deeply in love with. So what does that have to do with my blog? Well I think a little explanation would be needed for those who didn't know what narcissism means. In a nutshell, it's vying for attention and self-adulation. That may not be the exact definition but it's close enough.

The reason I bring it up today is because I happened upon an article that said that in a recent survey of college students who use social networks like Facebook or Twitter, a whopping 57% responded with results that indicated they have very serious narcissistic tendencies. Now I understand there is some motivation for wanting to stand out in a crowd. Practically all of us did it when we were in high school. Wanting to fit in or be part of the popular crowd was something many people aspired to and what others within that small community wanted to be the top of but if anything, it's a tendency that appears to be following us into adulthood as well. Now don't get me wrong, I think social networks are a wonderful way for people to reconnect with their friends and family and to establish good business contacts. But what astounds me is when you find people with nearly 859 friends or some such insane number.

I remember running into one guy at work and over the course of introductions he asked if I was on Twitter and whether I could add him as a contact or vice versa. I don't belong to Twitter so I told him 'no' much to his apparent annoyance but I found it a little odd considering I had met this person for no more than ten minutes and he already wanted to add me as a friend on his social network? For me, a friend is someone that I have a slightly deeper relationship with or that I've known for quite some time, I don't consider it something that can be used for improving social standing in terms of statistics. What I mean is for a person who has 859 friends, I'm very skeptical that this would be a person who keeps in close contact with all of them. To me it's more of a bragging right or a way to elevate their importance. I mean if someone logs on and sees that you have over 800 friends then the natural assumption would be that you're very important or popular and people interested in that type of relationship/friendship would likely add you.

I personally don't see the point. If I want my friends to know what I'm up to or what I'm doing, I would let them know. Then again, if they are that close a friend then they'd know what I was up to anyways and it wouldn't require me to tell them. Some people use their Twitter or Facebook accounts to let the world know what they are up to or about how exciting their social life is. But do I really need to know that Scarlet had a roast beef sandwich and that the bread was a little stale? No. Frankly my dear I don't give a damn. I think in an effort to continue that fight to gain social stature and acceptance, many of us are turning more and more towards social networking sites to fulfill our desire to be socially elite. I think it's a relatively childish tendency that is being fed by technology. Hopefully it won't last.