How much time do you spend trying to be pretty/handsome and interesting to others? Are you a little too obsessed with your feed and yourself? Today people are obsessed with how they look, especially when that picture is going to be posted anywhere online. We have all gotten those Snapchats from people to "like my recent," but why? To have their likes go up so they believe that so many people actually like them? In this generation social media has become more than an outlet, it's become an obsession.
As the generation who has grown up with social media, a reflection of narcissism is critically important to teenagers. In a 2010 study pyschologist with Journal of Social Psychological and Personality Science, found that The Narcissistic Personality Inventory Diagnostic Test (linked above so you can see how truly narcissistic you are) had increased by more than half since the early 1980s. Some psychologists have even said that the increase of narcissism has increased as quickly as obesity since the 1980s. Narcissism is not just affecting teenagers it's affecting younger kids and even politics. This is a problem
While some narcissists might not believe how bad they are, most create chaos and misery around them. Some might argue that if everyone is becoming more narcissistic, does that make narcissism necessarily a bad thing? My response would be yes. Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter don't create narcissists, however, it is the accelerant. There is a clear line between "healthy self-love" and narcissism that we sometimes get the two confused. Narcissism isn't an either-or characteristic. It is shown through symptoms more than through an identifiable state but still has a conscience.
I hope this makes you really analyze yourself and wonder if you, your parents, or others really do even have the slightest bit of narcissism. It's amazing to see it especially through Instagram and Facebook posts. Social media was a place meant to communicate, praise, and learn; never to self-promote, but others can only see how pretty they look on all their posts.
