Not-Warranted Narcissism

Generally, college students don’t lack self-esteem. We are a confident age group. I mean, everyone has days when they feel “down,” but for the most part, as college students, we think we are pretty tremendous.

This idea was proven when I was in the HUB recently and overheard a girl exclaim that she loves herself and that “sometimes [she] surprises herself with how awesome she is.”

This is an excessive – actually, extremely excessive - statement. But it demonstrates the narcissism of youth, nonetheless. It’s almost disgusting how much high self-esteem some teenagers display. Is it really warranted?

College students are basically between the ages of 18 and 22. Have we really done so much already in our lives-to-date validate the high self-esteem many people naturally accept?

A recent study of narcissism suggested that narcissism is more prevalent in college students born after 1982. In the study students were asked if they agreed or disagreed with statements such as "I think I am a special person" and "If I ruled the world, it would be a better place.” Essentially, college students, in recent years, have some of the highest ratings of loving thyself.

An article in Psychology Today, suggested, “one reason for the upswing in narcissism may have to do with the prevalence of 'me-centered' blogging and social networking websites.”

Another reason may be contributed to how schooling today forces high self-esteem on students – and it’s backfiring. Children are getting awards for simply participating in events, not necessarily winning, among other things, and this is greatly effecting the narcissistic tendencies students have today.

So should we calm down with the self-admiration? Yes. The real world won’t be so nice and college students need to come to terms with that fact that we aren’t inherently awesome by merely existing – we have to do something to prove ourselves first.