Written by: Shuvee Lamichhane - 29033, Grade VIII
Posted on: 02 May, 2024
Social media has now become a huge part of our day-to-day life. But after the rise of different social media platforms, there has definitely been an uptick in narcissism, and this phenomenon doesn’t seem to be going away. Although narcissism is considered the modern epidemic, the term narcissism originated about 2000 years ago. The term originated with the legend of Narcissus who was a Greek hunter that fell in love with his own shadow and was so obsessed and fixated on himself which led him to his end.
The psychological definition of narcissism is a more exaggerated grandiosity. A narcissist is a person who thinks that they’re more important than others and needs special importance and attention. According to literature, narcissism is a set of behaviors that mainly focuses on keeping oneself high and putting other people down. There are also different types of narcissists which are mainly categorized into four different types. Grandiose narcissists think that they’re above all and are also arrogant. They also seek limelight and power. However, covert or vulnerable narcissists always blame the world for not seeing their so-called “greatness”. Communal narcissists, however, like to boast about all the good work they do for the helpless or how kind-hearted they are, but inside they lack empathy. And lastly, malignant ones are the narcissists who commit crimes. These narcissists like to steal, lie, and cheat without caring about anyone else other than themselves.
Now, although social media might seem innocent in the matter of narcissism and narcissists, it has become the perfect playground to show off their “fake personas”. The simple existence of such social media platforms has now made it possible for narcissists to gain attention and validation from the entire world instead of just from their connections. As opposed to the previous generation, today’s narcissists are more pathological attention-seekers than before. But social media is not just casually connected to narcissism, it is creating different types of narcissists as well. Mostly, grandiose narcissism was linked to social media more than vulnerable narcissism. Narcissists with a high level of superiority were shown to tend to use Twitter rather than Facebook. However, narcissists with a high exhibitionism were shown to prefer Facebook and Instagram.
Social media is making things worse as social media platforms have created an environment where the number of likes and followers is a scale of fame and success which fuels the obsession with attention and validation in the youth. This can lead to a kind of cycle or addiction where young adults are 24/7 seeking and reliant on likes and followers in order to boost their self-esteem. Also, to constantly maintain their social media persona that they have adapted to, they can become obsessively concerned with how others perceive them, thus creating or fueling a narcissist.
In conclusion, social media has now become sort of a breeding ground for narcissists through which they can fuel their need for validation or attention. Thus, social media is in fact making us more narcissistic.
