THE SELFIE-NOMENON

I recently read an interesting article by Erik Mackinnon who wrote about “selfies”. I don’t know a lot about his background, nor do I endorse all his articles. I only read this one article of his and reckoned it as thought provoking.

Urban dictionary defines a selfie as a picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to a social networking website. You can usually see the person’s arm holding out the camera. A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face or the individual looking in a direction that is not towards the camera.

In his article, though not a generalization, he calls out the trap of narcissism. In ancient Greek mythology, Narcissus was a man that was incredibly proud of his own beauty.

“One thing that I remember clearly is that until (anti)social networking came about, cameras never had lenses that faced you. The act of taking a picture was largely reserved for capturing memories of somewhere, or someone, or some time – not to snap a photo of yourself for the explicit purpose of having your ego stroked by your social networking contacts. It’s comically sad that a quick tag search on Instagram reveals tens of millions of photos tagged with ‘self’ in some regard, but given how emotionally needy your average young guy or girl is today, it’s not surprising.”

“What’s the point of all of this? It’s pretty simple: if you’re the type of person that relies on the constant admiration of others through #selfies or whatever else – you might need your head examined. Perhaps try using the camera on the other side of your phone for a while.”

Interesting thoughts by Mr. Mackinnon.

Some dismiss his article as old school, others think he’s judgmental while others say that he makes a lot of sense.

Let me know what you think…

NARCISSISM AMONG YOUTH

“Believe in yourself.”

“Have faith in yourself.”

“Let the children express themselves and discover the good inside of them.”

These are some of the statements you’ll hear these days.  The intention is pure yet statistics show that this hasn’t been the healthiest trend.

“Learning to love yourself is the greatest love of all…” may not necessarily be a helpful statement.

Andrew McAffee wrote an article for Harvard Business Review recently talking about how young people today are getting more narcissistic.  Read his article here.

He mentioned a book by Jean Twenge and Keith Campbell entitled “The Narcissism Epidemic” and quotes an excerpt from the book.

“”We found that… college students in the 2000s were significantly more narcissistic than Gen Xers and Baby Boomers in the 1970s, ’80s, and ’90s. The Boomers, a generation famous for being self-absorbed, were outdone by their children. By 2006, two-thirds of college students scored above the scale’s original 1979-85 sample average, a 30% increase in only two decades… The upswing in narcissism appears to be accelerating: the increase between 2000 and 2006 was especially steep.”

Twenge and Campbell present a lot of evidence that “overconfidence backfires” and that narcissism does not equip people to succeed in today’s competitive world.  They really make good solo performers and make great entrepreneurs because of their high tolerance for risk.  But in most contexts, narcissism is a handicap.  It makes them less valuable professionals and less valued collegues.  In a world of increased team play, the one man show syndrome is not highly valued as we thought it would.

Jesus was right when He said that “to be the greatest, you have to be the least.”  He also said that to lead, you need to serve.

As parents, we need to teach our kids to learn the value of team and serving in that context.
As leaders, we need to exemplify the team spirit and realize I don’t have to be the know-it-all.
As citizens of a nation, lifting others up and putting their needs first may be an ultra revolutionary concept that will take this nation around.

“Apart from Me, you can do nothing.” (John 15:5)

Jesus made it clear that our confidence, our strength and our source has to be Him and Him alone.