Monday, October 07, 2013

Period 8 Article of the Week (Due Friday, 10/11)


Times article recently debated whether young people are more narcissistic than previous generations, mentioning Facebook as a possible factor. And a University of Michigan study, published in June, seems to support this theory.
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2013/09/23/facebook-and-narcissism
Are social media like Facebook turning us into narcissists?

***Reference a minimum of two of the linked articles.
1.  Read the articles.  Consider the author's tone, structure of the essay, and your personal reaction.
2. Please add an intelligent comment (minimum 3 sentences) in response to the linked articles from the NY Times.  Be sure to reference specifics from the article.
3. Optional: Comment on a classmates post in a second post (minimum 3 sentences)
*Use only your first name, last initial and period of class to 

18 comments:

  1. Social media exists in our society to stay connected with one another. There are people that will spend hours every day posting non-sense and are always talking about their situation but, there are only a few amount of people that go too far with it. For example, there are people that are "twitter popular" that have hundreds of followers and always tweet about themselves. These types of people really need to get outside to experience life outside of their phone. You cannot say people love themselves more based on how much they use social media but narcissistic people are easily spotted online.
    -alec per 8

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  2. Social media nowadays is misused. It was made to interact with one another and is now used to talk about oneself every 5 mins. This especially acquires to twitter. In todays world people use twitter, facebook, etc. to talk about themselves and get more popular by getting more followers or friends. These types of people practically live on there phone and dont even react with the outside world. People need to learn how to communicate with people the right way.
    Nick T. Period 8

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    Replies
    1. Do you think narcissism has increased? Reference two articles for support.

      Delete
  3. Konrath stated in her article "Empathy on the Decline" that,"It is likely that offline narcissists are also online narcissists." I agree with her on the Facebook vs Narcissism topic. The recent increasing popularity of social media sites has opened up a whole new world to people that like to talk about themselves. However, I do not think that sites like Facebook and Twitter create or increase a person's level of narcissism. Instead, I think that people that may appear narcissistic online may actually be narcissistic to begin with; that it may just be their personality. For example, people that show narcissistic habits in real life are usually the ones that post countless selfies and self absorbed tweets or status updates online.

    Casey R. Period 8

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  4. I do not believe that social media can make a person narcissistic. In the article “Everyone Has a Voice, Everyone Is Judged” Bullas points out that, “Web is only used for online attention seeking, leading to a vain, pointless and shallow existence. But in fact it's having an opposite effect. We are seeing the democratization of publishing that allows us to express our ideas, insights and creativity for free, whether on a blog, or in a Facebook post or YouTube video.” He touches upon the fact that we have the freedom to express any opinion that we have and we have the rights to post anything we want. If someone is annoyed of disagrees with the post they by all means can block the person, delete them as a friend, etc. Social media does not necessarily make a person narcissistic.
    Marissa G per: 8

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    Replies
    1. I agree with your views, but how does the line "democratization of publishing...." relate to the topic of narcissism? Clarify.

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  5. I don't believe social media makes you into a narcissistic person. I believe this because people who want to be into themselves will be into themselves regardless whether its with the help of social media or not. In the article "Don't Hate The Player, Hate The Game," it says, "Anonymous posting enables honest expression, unencumbered by identity." I disagree with this quote because people who are self-centered are gonna want other people to know who they are when they are posting something, so they can get a bunch of likes and comments on their post. In fact it's not the social media that is making these people narcissistic but it is the people themselves. In the article "Facebook Isn't The Problem" it says, "I must admit to having blocked people on Facebook because of their annoying propensity for humblebrags, those overwrought “celebrations of life” where people write wistfully about how “blessed” they are, or how amazing their husbands are, or wax longingly about their otherworldy parenting experiences." I believe this quote shows that people who are narcissistic because of social media, are the ones that people have to block because their posting becomes overwhelming. I also believe social media has a positive end to it because it allows people to freely express their ideas and not necessarily have to be into themselves due to the excessive posting. Overall, without social media we would live in a very different world today.
    Owen K per: 8

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  6. I do not believe that social media is turning people into narcissists. I think its doing the exact opposite to be honest. It gives people a chance to express themselves and show the world who they really are. It makes people more secure if they are behind a screen telling people what they're all about. From personal experience I see people who vent themselves out on social networks as an anonymous person just so they can feel better.
    I understand where some people can get the idea that people seem narcissistic on the internet, but theres always going to be someone looking for attention whether its online or in public. Its just how the world goes around. So if peoples only point to make is that the reason people are becoming narcissists is because of a social network, then they are wrong. It's just people trying to express themselves, and maybe find some people just like them who they can relate to.
    Chris D.
    Period 8

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  7. Social media is in no way the cause of narcissistic people. Facebook is often used to communicate with others and share experiences and ideas with friends. In her article, "Empathy on Decline", Sara Konrath states, "It is likely that offline narcissists are also online narcissists." Therefore, the few people who constantly post about their daily lives and seek attention tend be narcissistic outside of social media. This proves that Facebook and Twitter do not have a large impact on whether or not people are narcissistic, however there may be other influences that may have allowed them to have this personality.
    Harjot B Per 8

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    Replies
    1. Great choice of quote to support your point of view,

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  8. Yes i think that social media is making us narcisists for a couple reasons. I think that its because people post tweets and statuses that are pointless that their friends on social media don't care about. It makes you come off to people as self centered and conceited
    Jack Murray Period 8

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    Replies
    1. I agree, but this response does not cite evidence from the articles.

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  9. I don't believe that social networks such as Facebook are making people become narcissists. There definitely are some people on Facebook that are narcissistic, but I don't think that the websites are making them that way. In the article "It's a Narcissism Enabler" the author said that people turn to social media when they need a self esteem boost. That isn't necessarily making them self-centered, it could be a very good thing for people who aren't confident and have low self esteem to see that some people do really care about what they say and post.
    Alyssa T Period 8

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  10. I don't believe that social media sites are increasing a person's narcissism. They were created for people to share information about their lives, and because these sites allow people to post instantly, this could make it appear that people are narcissistic. I believe that people who are narcissistic would post more statuses than people who aren't. As the article titled " Facebook isn't the problem" says, "Facebook isn't the problem. Our need for outside approval is" I agree with this statement. Social media is not a bad thing.
    Amy B. period 8 (sorry this was late, my original post got deleted)

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