According to the U.S. National Institutes for Health, meanwhile, the incidence of narcissistic personality disorder is nearly three times as high for people in their 20s as for the generation that is now 65 or older — 58-per-cent more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982. These trends strongly correlate to the rise of online connectiveness.
The connection between this and social networking should be evident: More people can say what's on their minds to more people than ever before. And most people think little and express themselves worse.
By the way, I agree with all but the last of the predictions that conclude this piece.
"58-per-cent more college students scored higher on a narcissism scale in 2009 than in 1982."
ReplyDeleteI think I'd rather hear what a noted Canadian statistician made of this. Scored higher than what, or simply scored high? Are these the bored psychology majors paying their dues by answering their professors' questionnaires?
As for narcissism dropping with age, this seems to me predictable and probably repeated over the generations. "But when my glass shows me myself indeed/Beaten and chopp'd with tanned antiquity,/Mine own self-love quite contrary I read;/Self so self-loving were iniquity."