Three traits keep appearing in articles, conversations, & blog posts so I have to write about them. Not sure of their relationship but I am pondering. In no particular order they are:
Narcissism: Interesting research came out recently about status updates and tagging yourself on social media and the relationship to “socially disruptive” narcissism. It was found in a sample of people that there is a correlation between those with many fb friends who post/tag a lot and high scores on a Narcissistic Personality Inventory. Personally, I like it when people post often because I feel connected to them and know what’s up. I do not consider them narcissists.
Authenticity: I’ve been mulling how it is all the rage. For the last year people have really been talking about authenticity. Advertisers and marketers are focused on this and businesses large or small and individuals want others to perceive them as authentic. A way we share ourselves and establish our authenticity is through social media posts.
Vulnerability: Talking with a group last week when authenticity came up. Someone asked how you can be authentic but not be vulnerable. I could only think to say “what’s wrong with being vulnerable?” because I believe everyone is vulnerable in some way. Reminds me of a Martha Beck quote: “All humans are united, no matter how great our differences, by our fear of looking dorky.”
That’s a funny one but I’m still trying to figure this out. Is narcissism the outer shell protecting the vulnerability inside?
And, is it a problem if you reveal it through your authenticity-establishing but possibly narcissistic social media activity?
Or maybe it’s a continuum: vulnerability <-> authenticity <-> narcissism.
Help me out here. What do you think?
Laura,
You bring up some good points. If each of the elements you discussed were viewed as an infinite line spanning the continuum of each, then we indeed have a vast range. I believe each “line” has infinite points. Human character/ personality is composed of various points along a particular trait’s range. Thus it is possible for one person to be both narcissistic and highly vulnerable while another individual may be narcissistic with low vulnerability. We humans are complex creatures, or do we think we’re complex because we cannot separate our observations from our own human nature. If we could somehow stand outside ourselves would our observations be different ? That of course is another question!