There has never been a more narcissistic culture in the history of man. We are consumed by ourselves.
“The main condition for the achievement of love is the overcoming of one’s narcissism. The narcissistic orientation is one in which one experiences as real only that which exists within oneself, while the phenomena in the outside world have no reality in themselves, but are experienced only from the viewpoint of their being useful or dangerous to one. The opposite pole to narcissism is objectivity; it is the faculty to see other people and things as they are, objectively, and to be able to separate this objective picture from a picture which is formed by one’s desires and fears.” ― Erich Fromm
Guest Post by Quentin Fottrell
This academic study of people who post selfies confirms everything you suspect
Are you concerned by the number of people visiting tourist attractions wielding selfie sticks? And do you grow tired of the number of selfies appearing on social media sites? You’re not alone.
A backlash against selfies is afoot. Disney DIS, -0.41% , which celebrates its 60th anniversary on Friday, is cracking down on selfies. This month, Disneyland Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland followed last month’s move by Disney’s U.S.-based theme parks by banning selfie sticks. The Sistine Chapel in Italy and Palace Museum in Beijing also recently banned them. The Coachella music festival in California, which took place in April, and the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago, which begins on July 31, banned them too. In fact, Coachella’s rules state: “No Selfie Sticks/No Narcissists.”
These venues may be doing these selfie-lovers a service. There is a dark side to people who constantly share photos of themselves online, an increasing body of research suggests. People who post selfies on social networks are more likely to exhibit what some psychologists call “the dark triad” of personality traits, according to two recent studies of nearly 1,200 men and women who completed personality tests and answered questions on their online habits. This dark triad consists of narcissism (extreme self-centeredness), Machiavellianism (manipulation of others) and psychopathy (acting impulsively with no regard for other people’s feelings).
“It’s not a wonderful personality constellation,” says Jesse Fox, assistant professor of communications at Ohio State University, and co-author of the study of 800 men — “The Dark Triad” — published in the April 2015 edition of Personality and Individual Differences, a peer-reviewed journal, and a similar paper studying 400 women, which will be presented at a conference in November and soon be submitted for publication. Narcissism and psychopathy predicted the actual number of selfies posted on sites like Facebook FB, +4.11% and Instagram, as did how often people edited photographs to be posted on social-networking sites.
These findings are supported by a study of 400 men and women published last year in the journal Social Networking, a peer-reviewed quarterly academic journal that publishes studies on social relations. Although social media is primarily a tool for staying connected rather than self-promotion, it found there was one notable exception: The more people changed their profile picture, the more likely they were to report narcissistic traits. (The study also looked at the time they spent on Facebook and the words they used to rate their profile pictures.)
Posting, tagging and commenting on photos on Facebook were associated with respondents’ self-reported narcissism for both men and women, the study — “Is Facebook Linked to Selfishness?” – found. And posting frequent status updates and sharing links with a greater frequency were specifically linked with more narcissistic tendencies in women. The participants answered questions about both their social media habits and the Narcissistic Personality Index, a standard psychological test.
But sharing images on social media can have a positive impact on the networkers. It exposes people to the lives of others, their good times and bad times, says Tracy Packiam Alloway, associate professor at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville and co-author of the study. (Of course, people do tend to boast on social media, too.) And the ability to promote oneself with photos feeds narcissistic tendencies in those that are already very self-involved rather than actually turning selfless people into selfie-obsessed people. And correlation isn’t causation: These studies may show a connection, but don’t suggest that social networking actually causes people to be more narcissistic or Machiavellianism.
“Never before in our history have we been able to talk to millions of people with a single picture,” says Julie Hanks, owner and executive director of Wasatch Family Therapy in Salt Lake City. “In the past, we sought attention from people in our circle. Now we can seek approval from strangers and there’s more opportunity for narcissists to seek attention and validation.”
1. 25 years ago my wife and I began taking a camera tripod on vacations so we could get family photos where we traveled.
If that’s a “bad selfie,” go screw yourselves.
2. I do agree that we are surrounded by high time preference narcissists. They have no internal life, they live only in the mirror of the eyes they attempt to fasten on them with their stupid antics, their stupid tattoos, their stupid hair color and their stupid desire to have others care about their sex lives (which are icky beyond description.)
Sanity is a relentless devotion to having your perceptions mirror objective reality.
Happiness in part comes from aligning your expectations with that reality.
Most people today are NOT SANE by this definition, and this is largely why so many people are desperately, inconsolably and permanently unhappy.
I pity them.
They are taking the idea that we all try to sell our self with every interaction. The Kardashians make money with ever gesture, opinion, selfie and belfie. Thanks to them, we now have to attend to our ‘brand’ in addition to worrying about body odor and dandruff, sexual performance, bright smile, patriotic footprint, carbon footprint, inclusiveness and checking our whiteness – which is no problem for me.
Narcissism is O.K. when it there is justification. There is none however, for the self-aggrandising taking place by these legions of brain-deads. Nobody gives a shit about their pathetic, useless, wasted excuses for lives.
My granddaughter shows up last weekend with a selfie-stick and my heart sunk with disappointment. She said she won it while she was in Florida the week before. Granted she is only fifteen but she could tell I don’t approve……………am I wrong?
They come in handy for upskirt photos.
Nowadays, though, you’d see it used to peep the guy in the next urinal.
Narcissism is by definition a bad trait. There is not a situation when it is “OK.” Something that is genuinely OK is not narcissism.
DC said: “25 years ago my wife and I began taking a camera tripod on vacations so we could get family photos where we traveled.”
OK, your wife and you, to take family photos. What part of “selfie” do you not understand? 🙂
Selfies are to show off how important the “self” is. Family photos are to remember good SHARED times with your FAMILY. Quite different. I have taken thousands and thousands of photos of my close relatives – maybe 100 of my close relatives and me – and none I can remember of just me alone. In my family the problem is that I’m in too few of the photos, not too many.
I’ve had a picture capable phone since 2010 and haven’t done ONE selfie. I have never tagged on Facebook but I do post and I will comment if someone is putting up rubbish.
” .. she could tell I don’t approve……………am I wrong?” ——- Bea Lever
If you are asking — “Was I wrong to show my disapproval?” — then, I would emphatically say “No!”. How else will the child learn?
If you are asking — “Is it wrong for her to take selfies?” — I would say, “probably not”. That seems to contradict the above. What I mean is that if the worse thing your granddaughter does is take selfies …. consider yourself most fortunate!! There are so, sooo many evils teens are exposed to today, things they can participate in — that one must pick the battles worth fighting. Because, one must judiciously use the stick labeled ‘Don’t-Do-That’. Use it too often, and they’ll just tune you out. Pick worthwhile battles. Just my two cents.
Dang, Stuck, you could start your own advice column – Dear Stucky. Great advice, btw.
EC- Guys would have been up every skirt in school back in the day. +100
Stucky- Thanks, good advice……Mrs Freud has rubbed off on you.
She’s rubbed up on him, that’s for sure
EC is right, just give it a try. A once a week “Ask Stucky” segment would be down right interesting.
You are not afraid to discuss anything the monkeys come up with……….do it. Posters could use assumed names for the really demented problems. Admin will gain a million readers. win/win
Bea Lever, I too have a granddaughter who is seriously into the opinion of others regarding how she looks. She tests this daily on Fbook with multiple selfies. She’s 14 and about 80 lbs overweight, following in the footsteps of her obese mother and failing in school. I share your pain. What’s a grandpa to do?
“Mrs Freud has rubbed off on you.” —— Bea Lever
Ms, Freud? Rubbed off? ON me?? Stop speaking in code. What are you really saying?
heh heh
Uh, Bea – what about the day Stucky recommends group campfire masturbation as treatment for post male menopause depression?
” … following IN THE FOOTSTEPS of her obese mother and failing in school. …. What’s a grandpa to do?” ———– Westcoaster
She’s probably DOOMED. Really. FEW children can escape the actual EXAMPLES (not what their parents SAY) which their parents LIVE. IIRC, you don’t believe in “prayer” — at a minimum, prayer would at least provide psychological relief — but, you don’t have that. I don’t know the mom’s personality — but, most parents go ape-shit crazy when grandma/grandpa “interfere”, so that probably won’t work. I’m afraid all that’s left for you is to grin-and-bear it.
El Coyote, how’s THAT for some fuckin’ uplifting advice?
Westy
Do your very best to help her transition to a low carb diet. Buy her whatever she needs to develop a better way of eating. There are so many really good low carb snacks to keep her from feeling deprived.
I certainly don’t have a problem with intervention with my family, my youngest daughter/son-in-law and children have done a complete turn around and are in better health. Can’t hurt to try.
TE would be proud of our conversation.
The big advantage of Facebook for hobbyists is that the response(s) to calls for help / assistance / suggestions are usually quick – far quicker than the usual fora (e.g. RepRap). Users can easily mount images / short video, which can really make the difference.
I have no doubt about your ‘advisorial’ skills, you do have a gift, it’s just that I recall the time I asked about a problem I was having with the beautiful blonde and the answer I got from the Stucky Eight Ball was that I should use mouthwash. I guess you are a specialist, you can only advise white folks.
Westy, your little girl sounds lovely. At least you know guys won’t be doing an endless test drive like they do with the idiot girls who think they have to put out to keep a guy’s interest. By the time they turn 20, they have had sex with more guys than a whore turning tricks for a year. Don’t worry that she doesn’t look like your brainwashed ideal, pretty girls are pretty mainly because they are young. Then they turn 50 and suddenly they are women – with all that entails. So, you can’t give up on her until she is at least 50.
a nation of narcissists, hedonist. freaks , fairies and cuckservatives… the west is truly doomed..
What is a Cuckservative?
the cuckservative is eager to show his PC bona fides by openness to other races, he really doesn’t want to know about other races. Human biodiversity terrifies the cuckservative, as deep down he has bought into blank-slatism and egalitarianism. The cuckservative would rather just have a Herman Cain or Clarence Thomas poster on his wall than actually have to honestly think about race.
The cuckservative, although never Jewish, often seems vicariously to live through Israel. Since the cuckservative feels that he cannot defend his own ethnic interests, he’ll defend Israel’s. The cuckservative cares more about Israel’s borders than his own. Israel adamantly defends its own ethnic interests and perhaps deep down the cuckservative respects this on some unconscious level.
On the other hand, the idea of whites acting as a group to secure their own interests terrifies the cuckservative. If you ever want to troll a cuckservative, just repeatedly use the word “white,” such as “this isn’t beneficial for the white community.” The cuckservative will be triggered immediately.
The cuckservative is a fascinating personality. They’re all around us. Can they be helped? Is their condition terminal? Who knows, but maybe by pointing out their condition they can seek self-improvement.
more here: I Was A Conservative Once
onservatives are useless, cowardly failures
Conservatives had one job: to preserve order and western civilisation from a loose coalition of secularists, scroungers, unmarriageable women, militant sexual deviants, ghetto blacks and third world immigrants. That’s all they had to do, and they have failed utterly.
They have crumbled in the face of every enemy advance and abandoned one principle after another. Instead of taking a corrective, reactionary course of action to reverse the leftist advance they have gradually assumed the policies of the left as their own in order to remain popular and electable. They have failed to limit the abuse of the bloated welfare state and the breakdown of morality. They have failed to conserve anything of value or beauty. They’ve been out-debated and out-manoeuvred by sexually deviant disease vectors that comprise only 2% of the population. They have failed to reverse, stop or exert any sort of control over immigration and the crime-wave it has caused.
http://www.thisblogisdangerous.com/i-was-a-conservative-once/
A brilliant, fearless analysis of the deviant, gutless, nutless, mindless PC parasites that now threaten the very core existence of America.
A few observations I have pondered at length, reinforced by experience and wonder if I am close. I have been in voluntary exile in ASEAN since 2001 as I will not lend my name to what is transpiring now in my country of origin.
1. It appears to me judging from the freakish, self-entitled, typical head-up-the-ass U.S. tourists I have encountered here in Indonesia and ASEAN who support Israel unequivocally with no apparent reason that they are “apocalypse” driven and firmly believe that Israel as portrayed in the Bible is pivotal to triggering it. This is one point they may be correct on, given Israel’s nutcase PM and his Zionist sycophants. Almost without exception, these palpably miserable, neurotic victims of terminal PC syndrome continually expound on their desire to be vacuumed by God at the earliest possible moment.
I am left with the impression that being too cowardly to off themselves they are anticipating that Israel will do it for them – suicide by Jew – with the rest of us as acceptable collateral damage in their quest to sit on a cloud playing a harp for eternity.
2. Knowing that the White House criminals along with the Congress traitors could give a shit about any Americans except themselves their promotion and legal protection of homosexual deviants, pedophiles, and various other fruits and freaks designated by a bewildering number of acronyms along with the hero worship of any street pimp that can scratch a record or taggers that can wield a can of cheap spray paint being lauded as “artists” worthy of deification, it appears to me that this is all designed to destroy any last vestiges of academia and the arts along with the moral fabric of our society, rendering it incapable of fighting or mounting any semblance of resistance to tyranny.
3. It also appears that military veterans are being targeted now by the cops as dangerous, potential leadership threats.
It is a surreal experience, watching my country implode from 10,000 miles away. Hyperbole aside, the only remedy I can see now is a second revolution. I hope this is overreaction on my part.