The Rise of Narcissism - Is Social Media to Blame?

In recent research for my class's next debate, the topic about the effects of Social Media on our society, and specifically teens, kept coming up in the search.  I have strong opinions about today's social media.  That's not saying I am against it.  I am currently involved in a wide variety of social media sites: Facebook, Twitter, Google+, YouTube, Pinterest, Linked In, and Edmodo. I am also an active participant on various educational blogs, as well at the manager of two blogs I use in my classroom. Of all of these sites, only Facebook is used for personal communication with family or friends.  The information I receive on all of these sites are instantaneous, up-to-date, and productive to my success professionally and personally.  I have had the joy of watching my nieces and nephews grow up through Facebook, as well as improve the technology utilization in my classroom thanks to all of these great resources.  But, I am alarmed by one word that keeps coming up when it comes to the effects of these social networking sites on today's population.

Narcissism: The inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love, vanity.  Synonyms: self-centeredness, smugness, egocentrism. (Dictionary.com)

I remember hearing this word, but narcissism remained off my radar.  I have never considered how I could use it in my every day conversation or writing.  It seems that narcissism is slowly becoming the latest catchphrase label to describe our most recent developing "Me" generation.  Who or what is to blame?



The following link from ABC's news blog page called, Catalyst, contains a 10 minute video that tries to explain the problem of social media and how it applies to Narcissism. While watching the video, make a list of different synonyms for Narcissism.  There seem to be many, and they are powerfully negative.

The Rise of Narcissism

Another video I found interesting is taken from an episode of The Today Show on September 20, 2010. This video suggests that there is a connection between networking websites and the anti-social behavior of teenagers

Is Facebook Making Your Teenager a Narcissist?

As a result of Narcissism,  Empathy  seems to be the victim. Empathy is a tough word to define. To me, empathy refers to a person's ability to try to understanding the feelings of others as if they were their own. It is the foundation of other emotions and feelings that are necessary for a person to be moral, accepting, compassionate, and tolerant.  Check out the synonyms for empathy. Now that social media is accused of promoting egocentrism in its users, what does that mean for the future of this generation?  What adverse effects can there be if people are truly only focused on themselves. Can we live peacefully without empathy and compassion?

I have already given my perspective on the positives of social media on my life. Edudemic.com has a simple article about the positive benefits of social media for students. The videos speak about the negative effects of social media on today's youth. They may be a little sensationalized. I am personally concerned about the lack of empathy and responsibility in kids today.  I'm not sure that social media is totally to blame.  As parents, we didn't  have social media, so are we falling into the same declining spiral, maybe even faster?  What kind of role models can we be? Isn't our responsibility?

I know I left a lot of questions throughout this post.  I have also written this post primarily in first person. Both of these traits of writing I try to avoid.  What do you think?  Is social media growing into something we should be more concerned about?