Narcissism and the web just appear to go together.
People seem compelled to post “selfies”, even the pollies are now doing it, perhaps in an effort to appear “hip” in this crashingly boring and shallow election campaign.
Most web sites just talk about themselves, almost all have an “about us” page, photos of the factory, artistically arranged product shots, silly slogans dreamt up by a junior in the ad agency, or worse, the MD’s wife, but is that narcissism, or just a complete misunderstanding of the role of a website?
I think that the silly, self-indulgent behavior of teenagers and “selfies” is less about themselves than it is about fitting in, whilst the “Ruddster” is just a narcissist of the first order, Tony by contrast is too self conscious, so he just rates as a dill with an ego.
Why don’t we all get serious and use the tools we have as they should be used. Social media tools to communicate, albeit in an unnatural manner, websites to deliver information, frame debates, ask questions and deliver answers, blogs to seek alternative views and explore ideas.
Narcissism is ugly, pointless, and repelling, the opposite of engaging, which is what the web tools of various types can do when used well.
