The New Yorker: Will Storr: 'How Millennials Became The Selfie Generation'

Source:The New Yorker- Narcissism on display.

"We look at how society became fascinated with its own image, and try to find the truth behind selfie-taking. How Millennials Became the Selfie Generation | Annals of Obsession"

Source:The New Yorker

Just on a personal I note: I'm really glad I went to and graduated high school in the early and mid 1990s and not today with the personality I have then and now. Going to high school today must feel like you're on a reality TV or daytime talk show or something. With practically every teenager in school feeling the need to talk, look, and act like they're favorite celebrity that they saw or read about online the previous night. Social media narcissism and faddism is in and individualism is dying with the Millennials and we'll see what Generation Z is like when they're out of high school and college as well.

Selfies similar to coffee house cups and smartphones, are props. People use them to tell everyone else that they're up to date and in style with whoever is cool or awesome at the time. And I'm willing to bet a lot of times when you see someone walking doing a street or out of a building looking down at their phone and holding a coffee house cup, the cup is probably empty and they're just looking at their phone. And that draw dropping OMG expression that you see, is just that. But there probably isn't actually anything extraordinary going on with that person at that time because again they're just looking at their phone because they want people to think they're just as cool or awesome and in as the people that see them.

Well, selfies are props as well for people who feel the need to be seen doing whatever they're doing that day and being at whatever the trendy place is and that place will probably be a coffee house or some trendy cafe and they'll feel the need to get those pics up on Facebook ( or whatever they're favorite social network is ) almost as soon as their pics are taken. The need to feel cool by the people they believe are cool and who they want to be seen with. Faddism is in with young adults today and the need to be seen like their favorite celebrities and individualism and risk in life is out. Because if people act like themselves the person they talk to in their head and see in the mirror when they're just being them self in private, they're worried that person might not be seen as cool with the in crowd.

I'm all in favor of self-esteem and people feeling good about themselves, as long as it's deserved. When someone fails at something whether it's in school or at work, the first reaction shouldn't be it will get get better. Doesn't mean it won't get better, but that shouldn't be the automatic first reaction. The first reaction should be a self-examination and be a question which is why did you fail. Failing and screwing up should be opportunities for self-improvement. "This is why I failed and this is what I can do to prevent future failures and be successful in the future." Instead of, "that is just a onetime thing and it will automatically get better in the future." Because if you don't fix what went wrong the last time, it won't get better until you do.

Self-esteem, the so-called self-esteem movement of the 1990s, was the start of the rise of narcissism in America. With people feeling the need to be seen and be seen being cool and hanging out with cool people and feeling like if something went wrong in their life it wasn't because of them and it wasn't a personal failure on their part. And we see that with selfies today with people feeling the need to be liked and popular and be told they're great, oh I'm sorry awesome and doing awesome things and being around awesome people and feeling the need to be associated with whatever the popular trend is. And the internet and social media today have just taken those issues in American culture to extreme levels, along with celebrity culture and how important that seems to be with so many Americans.

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