Are today's college students really that full of themselves? According to a recently released study, they are. The study, conducted by a group of psychologists, claims the current college-age generation is more narcissistic and self-centered than previous generations were when they were of college age.
The study asserts that this narcissism can have negative effects on our lives and American society in general. Perhaps this is just another study unfairly bashing our generation, or perhaps, as any viewing of ""My Super Sweet Sixteen"" would prove, we truly are self-absorbed.
A closer look at our generation, however, shows that while we deserve much more credit than this study gives us, we do show symptoms of narcissism that could have awful repercussions for society.
College is a time that inherently lends itself to narcissism—our parents spend thousands of dollars every year so we can get an education and become successful and we are trying to figure out who we are and where we are going. A little self-obsession is only natural at this time in life.
If UW-Madison is any representation of campuses nationwide, students have true concern for their peers and society. For example, until this year, UW-Madison supplied the highest number of Peace Corps members, and we still send the second most students.
Ironically, just two days before the report on narcissism among college students appeared in the Wisconsin State Journal, an article ran reporting on the new student-led neighborhood watch program in which student volunteers will patrol streets at night. This came as a result of the successful Langdon Street Watch program, which employs the Greeks—typically thought of as the most narcissistic of all campus groups—to voluntarily patrol Langdon Street to increase safety.
These spontaneous acts of kindness can be found all over campus, and most likely are typical of many other campuses as well. Furthermore, when taking a wider view of our generation and not just those attending college, the claim that we are completely self-centered is refuted by the fact that more than 3,000 soldiers, many from our generation, have died in Iraq for their country. Countless more are stationed there, putting their lives on hold and on the line for what they believe is the greater good.
However, these incidents of compassion should not convince us we are completely altruistic and self-sacrificing. As the study points out, we seem to feel entitled, we believe we are special and we are materialistic—our constant binging, MySpace accounts and abundance of gadgets are evidence enough of these characteristics.
This egoism is not necessarily our fault, however, as we have been raised in a materialistic, kid-centric, self-centered society. The psychologists behind the study blame the ""I am special"" mantra our parents raised us with.
Moreover, many of us were raised in a very homogeneous environment, without exposure to poverty or horrible conditions of other parts of the world. Competition for jobs and college admissions has also increased, making it so that we can hardly afford to take the focus off ourselves.
We are adults and college students now, however, and can no longer blame our narcissism on our parents or society. We must be accountable for the effects our personalities will have not only on the qualities of our own lives, but also on society in general. For instance, the materialism and obliviousness of our parents' generation exacerbated the current global warming crisis, and we should not make a similar mistake.
A college education is a privilege, and we must use it to improve the world, and not merely to make money and buy nice things. College gives us the perfect opportunity to educate ourselves about the state of the world and, perhaps, expand our narcissistic views. From here on out, the world and the country are in our hands, and it would be nice if those hands belonged to aware, socially conscious people, instead of self-absorbed narcissists.
