"1. inordinate facination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.
2. Psychoanalysis: erotic gratification derived from admiration of one's own physical or mental attributes, being a normal condition at the infantile level of personality development" - dictionary.com
There are ongoing debates and articles written about narcissism, especially in light of social networking sites that seem to be taking the world by storm.
Suddenly, everyone wants to have a say about something, everyone wants to comment about something, people seem to express themselves more often, seem to be sharing their inner most deepest thoughts and feelings with hundreds of "friends" - half of which they no longer even really keep in touch with!
I have come to realise too that people have become reliant on these social networking sites as a way of "staying connected" with friends. But really, are we? Are we really so pressed for time that we no longer have time to go out with friends? Or are we using these as an excuse to run away from the fears of awkward moments with long lost friends?
A friend mentioned today about her need to access to a particular social networking site. Whilst the time spent could have been more fruitful for other work, having access to the social networking site seemed to be the priority. It seems that nowadays, checking in on how many people have commented on a particular post you made is more important than anything else.
I would say that narcissism is in all of us. It is this need, this sort of craving for attention that impels us to post up something, as silly as it may be, and share it with hundreds of the so-called "friends" we have on our friends list.
Some people may lack more attention than others - which would lead us to label them such. But if you look closely within yourself, you would come to realise that you are actually no different from them. You too, crave that attention that others have. I, myself, am a part of that too.
It is perhaps, the feeling that when the more people "like" the post you posted, comment more on the video you posted that it makes you feel like you are popular. Or at the very least, you get the feeling that people do care what you think. People value your thoughts. And people actually bother to read what you have.
It is somewhat similar with how blogs are like too. I mean think about it, why am i, or you (if you have a blog), writing all thoughts, feelings, sharing pictures with mere strangers? Why is it that we constantly do a double check, refresh the page, just to see if anyone has commented anything on something? It is just because we are all narcissistic. We love the attention. We love that people "like" what we like. It is an extra bonus too whenever people comment on how "smart" or "creative" you are in coming up with whatever witty thoughts or quotes you can come up with or find.
It's fascinating really. How the world has become. It is somewhat ironic that we are on one hand demanding more privacy and yet, at the same time, we are exposing ourselves even more than we can ever imagine to the world.
But that is life, isn't it? :)
So, ask yourself again, are you a narcissist?
