Joel Stein opened his argument with a very strong empathic tone “I am about to do what old people have done throughout history: call those younger than me lazy, entitled, selfish and shallow. But I have studies! I have statistics! I have quotes from respected academics! Unlike my parents, my grandparents and my great-grandparents, I have proof.” Stein’s premise goes with the idea that despite the fact that millenials (the Me Me Me generation)—those who were born between the period 1980s to 2000—are inherently narcissistic, selfish, shallow, lazy, and obsessed with entitlement traits, they may not be that bad after all. On the contrary, this group of people exudes optimism, confidence and pragmatism. Stein further argues that millenials may be just victims of circumstances of globalization as well as the rapid vicissitudes in technological advancements.
Stein may have a point. However, his presentation of data to back his claim seems questionable. The statistics of narcissism presented from the National Institute of Health are only expressed in percentage but they were not going to be validated if the results were highly significant. There were no statistical tests used to confidently assert the difference in numbers of narcissistic people today and the past generations (i.e. those who are aged 65 and above). Similarly, there have been no correlational studies presented to confirm the links of narcissism to preferences and lazy attitudes of the younger generations.
While statistics were shown, the author failed to consider how the scores in most narcissism studies should be interpreted. He missed the point that the legitimacy of questions to measure psychological disorders is obscured. It is due to the fact that the method employed to gather information is deemed relative. Brown, Budzek and Tamborski (952) argued that the use of force-choice format type of assessment to test the level of narcissism may not be reliable. An evaluation was also made by Ackerman (85) to further support Brown, Budzek and Tamborski’s contention. According to Ackerman (85), there were limitations with the psychometric properties of the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI). Thus, they proposed that these three factors were the limitations of the inventory. Those three elements were the leadership, exhibitionism, and exploitativeness. The leadership dimension was generally linked to adaptative outcomes. On the other hand, exhibitionism and exploitativeness were linked to maladaptive results. In this case, Stein should understand that correlations at the surface level between NPI, psychological and behavioral outcomes should be deeply examined.
It has also been repeatedly emphasized that the root of narcissism among millenials is the result of globalization, social media, Western culture export and speed of change. The author was quick to generalize that the said generations were more similar to one another as compared to older generations worldwide. His inferences were based on the power of globalization and the internet to link the Me Me Me generation together. For instance, he presented information about Chinese millenials to show that he did not limit his conclusions to the studies conducted in the United States. Still, these results were not sufficient to explain the trends of narcissism that had been prevailing all over the world. The author pushed the discussion even further on the tendency of poor millenials to exhibit a higher rate of narcissism, materialism, and technology addiction. However, it had been contended in some researches that the relationship between social media and narcissism could not be determined. To illustrate, Panek, Yioryos, and Konrath (2011) reported that their studies on narcissism and social media were inconclusive. Whether such behavior could lead to increase the use of social networking sites and vice versa remained uncertain. This was because there may be other variables that were not included that could help explain the way people were raised, and the parental style being applied to discipline their children. Horton, Bleau and Drwecki (371) successfully illustrated that parental warmth was positively associated to both healthy and unhealthy narcissism. Concomitant to healthy narcissism is indulgent parent while the other type of narcissistic behavior is connected to parental involvement and monitoring. These findings suggest that parenting strategy may color a child’s perception of a parental support and leniency.
Stein’s article presented several statistics and quotes from interviews of notable psychologists to generally describe the millennial generation as narcissistic. The root of this self-love has been attributed to globalization, social networks and the speed of change in development. As a consequence, the generation created by baby boomers has the propensity to partake in less civic engagements and political actions while leaning towards self-entitlement. In contention to Stein’s perception, several studies have shown that narcissism was subjective. The methods in measuring such behavior were yet to be refined to completely grasp the whole idea. In addition to that, millennials should go out to the streets to convey their political views. Social network mediates people to share their opinions and voices about their governments and promote the causes that they want to champion. Similarly, the acuity on self-esteem to boost narcissism also depends on the rationality of the person to make a judgment. Various studies have been presented to encourage self-esteem and to promote well-being as opposed to the way the author looks at self-esteem. The author (that has not completely understood the concept of relationship) fell short in considering that the root of the problem is also a result of parenting. Thus, it has been suggested that experimental methods should be used to cover the extent to which behaviors in social networking sites can activate the narcissistic self-focus.
Less civic engagements and lower political participations than any previous groups such as the baby boomers has been associated with narcissism. However, the underlying question to be answered is how these concepts (civic engagement and political participation) are being measured. There should be a clear cut definition of civic engagements and political participation. The author should realize that the practice of social media to spread awareness and express a political standpoint is not entirely excluded in the domains of political participation.
Apart from less involvement in civics and politics, entitlement has been also seen as one of the negative effects of narcissism. This behavior was a result of a high self-esteem, which the author regarded as common to the Me Me Me generation. He quoted a notable psychologist that “young employees email their CEO directly and beg off projects they find boring.” Nevertheless, self-esteem should be viewed in a positive manner. It must be used as a tool to reward and point out one’s inappropriate behavior, rather than be used as an entitlement. Case in point, the success in modern society depends on learning and improvement in various aspects to include academic, social, cultural and occupational. Through self-esteem, people can criticize themselves without the need to boost their morale at the expense of others. As the person performs or behaves better, this reinforces good behavior and improvement. These latter elements are conducive to the happiness of individuals and betterments of the society (Baumeister, Campbell, Krueger and Vohs, 39).
Works Cited
Ackerman, Robert A., Edward A. Witt, M. Brent Donnellan, Kali H. Trzesniewski, Richard W. Robins, and Deborah A. Kashy. “What Does the Narcissistic Personality Inventory Really Measure?” Assessment, 18.1 (2011): 67–87. Print.
Brown, Ryan P., Karolyn Budzek and Michael Tamborsky. “On the Meaning and Measure of Narcissism.” Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 35.7 (2009): 951-964. Print.
Baumeister, Roy F., Jennifer D. Campbell, Joachim I. Krueger, and Kathleen D. Vohs. “Does High Self-esteem Cause Better Performance, Interpersonal Success, Happiness, or Healthier Lifestyles?” Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 4.1, (2003): 1-44. Print.
Horton, Robert S., Geoff Bleau, andBrian Drwecki.“Parenting Narcissus: What Are the Links Between Parenting and Narcissism?” Journal of Personality, 74.2 (2006): 345-376. Print.
Panek, Elliot T., Yioryos Nardis and Sara Konrath. “Mirror or Megaphone? How relationships Between Narcissism and Social Networking Site Use Differ on Facebook and Twitter.” Computer in Human Behavior, 29.5 (2013): 2004-2012. Print.
Stein, Joel and Josh Sandburn. “Why Millenials Will Save Us All.” Time, 181.19 (20 May 2013): 26. Print.
