The Kanye generation

On Tuesday, I posted a selfie on Instagram.

On Wednesday, another selfie.

Fifteen followers liked the first picture, 19, the second.

I paid attention to that. I follow the likes my Facebook statuses receive. I note which of my Tweets receive the most retweets.

Social scientists would say I’m infected. To quote the title of a 2009 book, we’re in the midst of a “narcissism epidemic,” fueled by social media, and the most expressive symptom is the selfie.

According to the Oxford Dictionary, the use of the word “selfie” has increased 17,000 percent in the last year, so we might be past an epidemic. We’re in a narcissism pandemic, an extinction-level narcissistic apocalypse.

The Atlantic quotes several academic studies covering tens of thousands of participants, each concluding that narcissistic behavior has risen drastically in the past three decades.

It’s an undeniable fact. We’re narcissistic. In the words of Complex, we’re all Kanye now.

Maybe I’m an extreme narcissist — a Yeezus among Kanyes — but I don’t think it’s all that bad.

In fact, I think it’s a tremendously positive change.

Our attitudes toward ourselves lie on an axis stretching from self-love to self-hate. And I think we should stay as far away from self-hate as possible.

What are the dangers of narcissism? The concern, from a sociological perspective, is that it exacerbates individualism and destroys social bonds. Narcissists are exploitative and hostile, according to the studies mentioned above.

But we’re breaking expectations. Yes, we’re a generation defined by our narcissism. But that’s led us to be more focused on being happy than generations before us, according to many researchers.

And, unlike our elders, we consistently rank making a difference more important than making money in our future careers. We express empathy and compassion more readily than previous generations.

We want to do good, and, believe it or not, that emerges from our selfies.
Selfie culture encourages us to value ourselves as human beings. Only then can we truly value others. Only by building up goodwill toward ourselves can we expend that goodwill on others. We recognize traits we value in ourselves and reward them in others.

The Daily Beast explains, “selfies are on track to restore ... innocent love for humanity.”

Our sense of self-value is going to transform politics. As even the most liberal democracies in the world increase coercion of their citizens, polls are revealing a picture. The old people don’t care. But the narcissistic youth do. And why wouldn’t we? We value ourselves as individuals. We’re not inclined to accept oppression.

Radical self-love is even more important to groups less privileged and more oppressed than this white man. As civil activist Audre Lorde once said, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence. It is self-preservation, and that is an act of political warfare.”

Each selfie we take is a rejection of a social order that tells us we’re average. Our narcissism is a ticket to a happier and freer future.

­— shlumorg@indiana.edu
Follow columnist Luke Morgan on Twitter @shlumorg,