Scrolling through a social media feed, you’ll probably find a picture of your friend smiling with the perfect lighting and his or her favorite outfit, acting like that’s how they look all the time. I’m talking about pictures of just one friend, not a group, showing off the best photo that they could find. It might even be edited, and maybe you do this yourself. In previous generations (and a few people in our generation like myself), many people can’t even imagine posting a photo of themselves for no good reason. I fully support posting pictures of special events like a graduation or birthday, but why do people just post pictures of themselves? Is it for the likes and comments? Maybe to boost their confidence? No matter the reason, this, along with other generational traditions, has led many to believe that our generation is extremely self centered, particularly when compared to older generations.

In a study about narcissism in more recent songs, songs from 1980-2007, psychologists concluded that there has been an increase in the number of “I” and “me” in songs and a decline in “us” and “we.” In addition, song lyrics have seemed to transform into being very narcissistic. Through their songs, singers have called themselves “the greatest” and have even said things like “all eyes on me when I walk in, no question that this girl’s a 10.” The lyrics might flow well and singers probably don’t believe these things, but including lyrics like these definitely says something about our generation. 

The increasing amount of technology has surely contributed to this. Texting and social media controls the minds of today’s youth. With the creation of Snapchat, people are constantly taking pictures of themselves, sometimes with unrealistic filters. 

However, our generation suffers from a lack of self esteem at the same time. A study from Universum shows that 33% of Gen Z lack the confidence to lead, and less than 40% of the generation are confident in having a positive future. It’s possible that self-centeredness is simply a mask to cover the lack of confidence that Gen Z feels. Other people claim that the narcissism of our generation is only a myth.

Personally, our generation seems to be more self-centered than other generations, but it’s difficult to judge this since I have never lived in any other generations. No matter what, I don’t put all of the blame for this on Generation Z. Technology is a huge factor, so if other generations had access to technology and apps like we do today, it’s very possible that they would have reacted in the same way.

Photo Credits: Arizona Trauma Institute