There has been an extensive debate on the subject of narcissism and their association with the millennial generation. It is now no more a Western issue, but rather a global one. Some researchers have stated Millennial as the “Most Narcissist Generation” of all time. Jean Twenge’s work on the “Narcissist Personality Inventory” has found out that now over two-third US college students are suffering from narcissistic personality disorder. The research’s work is based on the observations since 1982 to present. Therefore, by recognizing the importance of this subject the paper aims to highlight the impact, causes, and recommendations to comprehend the subject.
The issue is the way millennial use self-expression on their social media platforms, which is considered narcissism by the older generations. In addition to this, the Millennial has rated themselves 61.4 on a point narcissism scale, while the older generations rated them above 65.3.
Now Millennial become exhibitionists to a group of masses through the social media use, which is according to them is self-expression, however narcissism according to the previous ones. Millennial is also known as the selfie generation who upload their photos merely just to express their appearance, and according to this age, there is quite nothing wrong with that. However, due to the constant validation Millennial seek results in them in being labeled as narcissism.
Thus, the constant validation-seeking attitude of Millennial also leads them to delve into social comparison with the peers, and eventually fall into depression and loneliness. This explains that millennial have a major lack of self-esteem. Another research states that there is a lack of severe economic downturn during the childhood of most Millennial, in short, it is stated that they are the product of a failed parenting strategy. To conclude, the failed parenting strategy, as well as increased use of social media platform, has led a lack in the self-esteem movement, and this is why Millennial are constantly struggling from superior complexity, even personality disorders to mental illnesses. As a result, it is hindering their potential.
By this discussion based on the secondary research, it can be stated that Millennial are struggling with a narcissistic personality disorder.
The Impact of Narcissism in Millennial Generation
Time has named Millennial as the “Me, Me and Me” generation and till now by the above discussion, it is now provided that Millennial experiencing narcissistic personality disorder. Hence, the first identified cause is the failed parenting strategies that led to mismanagement of the early childhood development, and eventually led the adult growing into a narcissist. Second, as discovered earlier, the selfie generation, and the over the stylized use of filters have led this generation to develop superiority complex psychological problem and eventually to result in extreme narcissist personalities. This section will study its impacts.
Millennial is known as self-absorbed. According to personal observations they need constant admiration for their academics, attention to their physical presence, and praise for their exterior self. Hence, Millennial fails to understand and recognize the difference between flattery and honest feedback. The statistics state that the incidence of narcissistic personality disorder will eventually increase nearly three times as the time grows. From 1982, it is found out that now more than 58% of the students are suffering from narcissism. These students are subconsciously narcissist and without even realizing their long-term impact. They are obsessed with every idea and medium of power that leads them to fame, the false prophecy of increasing their social media followers and yet they are still depressed, and lingering into severe individualistic crisis. The fault is the millennial generation depending on other people’s point of view, rather than their true self. They are also overly affiliated to the status of power, and money that leads them to believe the misconception and myth of the ultimate happiness formula. In short, they are losing their true selves into the competition of simply serving as the corporate slave for the rest of their life. This is the result of failed parenting strategy who didn’t understand that the time was changing, and their child has to be dealt differently.
Some researchers, as well as more prominently Times reported that Millennial had been found to be highly fame-obsessed. As stated, “three times as many middle school girls want to grow up to be a personal assistant to a famous person as want to be a Senator, according to a 2007 survey; four times as many would pick the assistant job over CEO of a major corporation.”
The concept of happiness according to Millennial is power, status, and fame. The self-absorbed Millennial fail to understand that the materialistic standards do not lead to a contented life, as the research says. According to a personal viewpoint as well as research, it is found out that narcissism scale of Millennial is increasingly also led by their opinions on materialism. More and more Western children are now overconfident and self-absorbed that they fail to understand the bigger problems, such as the harmful influence of narcissism on their personalities. (Bergman, 706)
Research Works on Narcissism and Millennial
It is also found out that the increased influence of great inflation; as well the emerging Industrial Revolution has led the children growing into beliefs that attaining power is an easy process. They fail to recognize the importance of failure, and simply trusting the process rather than putting overdependence on the result. This research idea will be further studied in the Issue #2.
A concept of Selfishness Technology is also discovered that highlights the fact that middle-class Americans are now taking 85 more pictures while walking down the street. This is quite a mere observation which holds a deep-rooted problem of overgrowing narcissism in their personalities. Researchers at Florida State University have stated that this generation is in the crisis of low self-regard that will harm their future and further years of life. This has clashed with the over expecting, and overly rational Baby Boomers who are also constantly criticizing the Millennial in the workforce. (Balaji, 11)
They simply state that Millennial generation fails to meet their expectations. Thus, this has resulted in Millennial developing an inferiority complex and a misunderstood concept of the Baby Boomer generation’s behavior. The impact has also resulted in a huge generational gap that is also a factor why more and more Millennial are leading into depression.
Another impact that has been developed by the ongoing age of narcissism is the sense of entitlement. According to the survey done on previous generations, the sense of entitlement is higher in the Millennial as compared to them. Even though when a millennial adult learns the impact, eventually they are lead to the fact that their facts are right as compared to the older generations. They consider them outdated, old-fashioned and a generation that is unable to understand the Millennial. Hence, this is true, and there is a clash between the generations, however by understanding it can be solved for the benefit of both the ends.
Another research done at the California State University states that Millennial is suffering from an iDisorder. The concept was quite celebrated by the researchers, which even resulted in a published book. IDisorder is resulting in reduced creativity with an increased amount of a dopamine hit eventually resulting in lower IQs. This has also led the Millennial to be self-absorbed and failing to understand the importance of the creativity of the soul simply. The creativity of the soul occurs by developing a favorable thinking for the entire humanity regardless of being divided by the deepest roots of racism, classism, and elitism. Millennials are also reported to lack empathy and feel concern for others, and there is the reason behind it. The failed parenting strategy has led the Millennial to control their emotions on a general basis, which is. Therefore, they fail to understand the significance of every emotion. It is important to feel sad, feel angry, anxious, stressed, number and happy. (Bourke, 16)
Each emotion is important, however, due to the overly practical and rational tactics of their parenting they are led to control their emotions. The previous generations have practiced every practical strategy to establish their children as practical adults; however, they fail to provide them the significance of emotions. The identification of emotions also leads to empathy, having concerns for others regardless of any social barriers. Therefore, due to lack of a “homely sense of being” in their own family, Millennial are now led to believe that their social media “friends” are more important to them than their own family. The sense of family and togetherness has resulted Millennial into displaying themselves as narcissistic beings. However, a Millennial may be feeling quite more insecure than their pseudo “social media presence” to their followers, and friends. Another important theory is the moderation theory proposed by Aristotle who stated that happiness lies in moderation.
Issue #2 Based on Research Work
On the basis of this research work, this can be safely stated that social media, self-esteem movement as well the technology has impacted Millennial making them different from the previous generation. However, the largest influencing factor is the great inflation which was further generated by the emergence of capitalism and globalization. The argument over this subject even reaches an extent when the previous generation even considers Millennial for being the cause of great inflation, booming capitalism, and globalization.
The Concept of Real-Self, Millennial, and Narcissism
Psychologists are still discovering whether Millennial is a narcissist or is it just healthy, high self-esteem developed by them. Due to the chaos between who they think they are and how they present to the world, there lays an answer to this viewpoint. The Gen-Y is not even claimed to be narcissistic, but also psychopaths and sociopaths with no sense of empathy. From a personal belief, Millennial are narcissists. However, their empathy scale is higher than the previous generations.
Another important part of the narcissist personality inventory test has resulted in calculating the negative traits that are usually found in Millennial. However, their scale of empathy is found higher than the previous generations. The negative of the Narcissistic Personality Disorder is the average Millennial’s need to be associated with exhibitionism, self-absorption, arrogance, entitlement and other important traits. (Wickel, 24)
However, these traits are nowhere associated with harming the environment or even cause problems. But, due to this sense of their personality Millennial fail to reflect in the true and long-term perspective rather than a short-term outlook. The short-sightedness of an average Millennial is the result of the overgrowing narcissism in their personality which may not place harm to anyone, but it is destroying their selves. The author of Americanization of Narcissism has stated that Millennial usually have a false perception of the important aspects of life, such as happiness, empathy, leadership and other subjects. For example, Millennial need to understand a leader can be both directive and humble. Confidence, leadership, and assertiveness are linked to the better research of oneself, and self-driven attitude rather than aspects of life that cannot be controlled. However, the over influence on social networking, and gaining followers on social media platforms has led Millennial to misunderstand the concept of true self. Their lack of self-discovery is the main trait that millennial are increasingly suffering from narcissism and other personality disorders. Under narcissism, there are different types; this is why it is stated that subclinical narcissism is a healthy choice. It is a normal personality trait that is lacking in Millennial on an average. The extreme self-confidence without truly discovering themselves is the main aspect which is lacking in major research works done on narcissism. The Millennial fail to understand that their seek for attention, admiration, and validation is not an abnormal behavior if it comes from the right sources. Hence, it also leads to the fact that the increasing number of Millennial is now spending time with their peers, social networks, video games and Facebook than their families. This is why a huge number of Millennial now dislike the social situation related to family matters. The lack of family and togetherness has diverted the attention of an average Millennial, and therefore, they are now occupied into competitiveness and dominance.
The traits of competitiveness and dominance are the result of overdependence on SNS, also known as Social Networking Sites. The most popular online websites have now continued to grow approximately by 153% market share. The sites such as Facebook, Instagram are one of the most important market leaders in the social media platforms that have no purpose than leading the average Millennial develop a social comparison with their peers, and leading into depression. The increasing rate of depression, loneliness, substance abuse and even physical violence is the result of overusing social media sites and without understanding the means of moderation. Hence, in this section, the lack of important aspects in an average Millennia’s personality have been discussed which completely reflects the importance of true self. (Westerman, 8)
In addition to this, the psychoanalytic theory of Freud to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Psychiatry are one of the pioneers in understanding narcissist personality disorders. In order to understand the narcissism, and its presence in the Millennial it is important to know the pioneer works on the subject. The pioneer stated the similar impact as it is practically experienced around the world. Hence the noted important aspects are discovered that the Millennial must not lose their true self as well be aware of their own emotions, learn self-control and eventually they will find themselves into a position that they are healthy narcissist individuals. As stated earlier, clinical narcissism is healthy and therefore, Millennial can adapt that with the sense of moderation. The Millennial must also understand the importance of philosophy and psychology in life, as both deals with practical lessons and identification of one’s self. This way Millennial will be able to attain self-discovery and become their competition and best versions. Narcissism works like every marketing strategy that leads the customers believing they are free to choose. However, they are not. Therefore, recognizing one’s addiction to narcissism is a healthy choice and an effective way to have a self-evaluation.
Conclusion
The paper has successfully discussed the subject of narcissism in accordance to the Millennial. It is discovered Millennial are constantly struggling with superior complexity, even personality disorders to mental illnesses. As a result, it is hindering their potential. Therefore, it is important to highlight the issue and create awareness about it. Moreover, the first identified cause is the failed parenting strategies that led to mismanagement of the early childhood development, and eventually led the adult growing into a narcissist. Second, as discovered earlier, the selfie generation and the over-stylized use of filters have led this generation to develop superiority complex psychological problem and eventually resulting in extreme narcissist personalities. Therefore, the first step to eliminate narcissism from society is to identify the main causes. The negative of the Narcissistic Personality Disorder is the average Millennia’s need to be associated with exhibitionism, self-absorption, arrogance, entitlement and other important traits. These are usually found in Millennial, and therefore, they are important to identify. The Gen-Y is not even claimed to be narcissistic, but also psychopaths and sociopaths with no sense of empathy. From a personal belief, Millennial are narcissists. However, their empathy scale is higher than the previous generations. Hence, Millennial can overcome narcissism through self-discovery. (Hoover, 38)
Works Cited
Westerman, James W., et al. “Are universities creating millennial narcissistic employees? An empirical examination of narcissism in business students and its implications.” Journal of Management Education 36.1 (2012): 5-32.
Bergman, Shawn M., et al. “Millennials, narcissism, and social networking: What narcissists do on social networking sites and why.” Personality and Individual Differences 50.5 (2011): 706-711.
Hoover, J. Duane. “Complexity avoidance, narcissism and experiential learning.” Developments in Business Simulation and Experiential Learning 38 (2014).
Dworkis, Kelsey Kay. The interactive effects of incentive threshold and narcissism on managerial decision-making. University of Southern California, 2013.
Balaji, K. V., and R. Indradevi. “A STUDY OF THE PRESENCE OF SUB-CLINICAL NARCISSISTIC TENDENCIES AMONG MILLENNIAL GENERATION ADULTS IN A PRIVATE UNIVERSITY.” Global Management Review10.1 (2015).
Wickel, Taylor M. “Narcissism and social networking sites: the act of taking selfies.” Elon journal of undergraduate research in communications 6.1 (2015).
Bourke, Brian, and Heather S. Mechler. “A new me generation? The increasing self-interest among Millennial college students.” Journal of College and Character 11.2 (2010).
