Narcissism, Emerging Media, and Society

This chapter focuses on the role of narcissism in emerging media use and culture. “Narcissism” will refer to the grandiose form unless otherwise noted. The chapter begins by providing a description of narcissism as an individual trait and as a socio-cultural process. It discusses the research findings on narcissism and emerging media. Finally, the chapter offers some ways to think about these issues going forward. Emerging media also potentially play a role in increasing cultural narcissism by offering the possibility of grandiose self-presentation and self-esteem regulation to the broader culture. At the cultural level, individual narcissism increased along with the rise in emerging media. Emerging media will theoretically be an avenue for increasing narcissism at the individual and cultural level if they allow people to present themselves in a way that inflates their self-esteem.