New_Narcisim

New Narcissism 1. For centuries, the rich and the powerful has documented their existence and their status throughout painted portraits. The purpose is to display them, as they wishes to be seen. Self-portraits can at once expose and obscure, clarify and distort. They can display egotism and modesty, self-aggrandizement and self-mockery. Today, our self-portraits are democratic and digital, as they are crafted from pixels rather than paintings. The purpose is still to present your personality; in the way you want others to see you. We can see these tendencies on different socializing websites such as MySpace, Twitter and Facebook, which basically features “the modern self-portraits of our time”. Like painters constantly retouching or changing their work, people alter, update, and tweak their online self-portraits. However as digital objects of the internet, the online profiles and blogs of today are far more ephemeral than oil on canvas – and have far more possibilities of developing egoistic and conceited perspectives on life. Social studies and examinations on the human personality have come to show, that everybody seek some sort of validation in our actions. This is the main reason why people expose themselves to the world, hoping to be confirmed by someone. Furthermore they seek opportunities and new ideas in order to stand out from the crowd – in which the goal often justifies the means. The way popularity is reached today is more or less irrelevant. Chris Crocker, who is mentioned several times in “Me, Me, Me”, is an outstanding example of this “trend”. He posted video on YouTube – a website where anyone can publish videos dealing with just about anything in the world -, where he is babbling and crying inconsolably about Britney Spears, who he hasn’t actually met, but who the whole world knows of. The video emerges feelings in the viewer, who is now forced to take a stand, whether he agrees with Chris Crocker or not – and with such a strong, outrageous and “innovative” video, no wonder Chris Crocker is world famous at this point. New narcissism can be defined as a way of thinking in our modern world - a tendency which is pursued by many. It reflects the way people are and think, as most believes the individual “me” is the greatest, when it all comes down to basics. It is not common to think lesser of yourself, as well as to assume there are some things you cannot do. The mirror will always be right in front of us, confirming us on in the assumption that our reflection is the greatest among all. 2. In the articles “Student Narcissism On The Rise” and “Do Today’s Young People Really Think They Are So Extraordinary'” two very opposing views on new narcissism are presented. Text 2 is introducing Jean Twenge – the author of “Generation Me” and her experiences with college students and their narcissistic approach on life. According to Jean Twenge, students tend to set unreasonable and unrealistic expectations for themselves and their future – striving to perform and be the best. Therefore the result is often disappointment and unhappiness, as they fail to succeed in their goals. Furthermore Jean Twenge claims that lenience and spoiling of children is to blame for the high level of narcissism among students. Text 3 however refers to other measurements and data, which claim the opposite of text 2: That American students haven’t shown any prominent increase of narcissism and egotism. These statements are substantiated by a quote by former president, Jimmy Carter, who is supposedly a reliable source, because of his former president candidacy. Additionally text 3 presents studies made by psychologists, in which the levels of narcissism are compared to earlier studies in the 70’s and 80’s, help to substantiate the theory that narcissism hasn’t increased. This article is clearly in contrast with text 2, where the reader is under the impression that narcissism among college students has escalated, whilst the facts of text 3 tell us that there hasn’t been any real increase. Text 2 is perhaps more objective than text 3, as it quotes Jean Twenge rather than trying to impose an opinion on the reader. Also the studies, which confirm the statement of text 3, aren’t as detailed as in text 2, as well as text 3 tends to undermine the arguments of text 2 rather than arguing for its own statements. 3. When using electronic tools for communication some might argue, that people are restraining themselves to superficial contact, and that the physical contact is becoming rarer. As with any new technological advance, it must be considered what type of behavior online social networking encourages. To an increasing degree, many friendships are found and formed in communities in the virtual world. These virtual networks greatly expand opportunities to meet others, but they might also result in our valuing less the capacity for genuine connection. It is easy to trade actual human contact for a virtual hug on Arto or a poke on Facebook. It shows a desire to avoid the vulnerability and uncertainty that true friendship entails. Real intimacy requires risk - the risk of disapproval, of heartache, of being thought a fool. Social networking websites may make some relationships more reliable, but whether those relationships can be humanly satisfying are yet to be seen.