Student Vanity: Needed to Survive Competative World

An article posted on CNN.com titled Vanity on the Rise Among College Students, claims that students today are more self centered and narcissistic than before. According to the author, these behaviors are not good for our society. The article starts out saying that children should not always be told they are special. This is where the author believes the narcissistic nature comes from. But positive reinforcement is important in child development. No one likes to constantly be told no, therefore when children exhibit good behaviors they should be rewarded. Studies have shown that children respond much better to positive reinforcement than to negative. Also the article talks about surveys that were conducted. Students were asked what the world would be like if they ruled or if they thought they were special. Many responded that the world would be better if they ruled and that they are special. But who does not think that they would be able to make the world better if they ruled? To get anywhere in today’s world students need to think they are special. They need to think that they can add something. The world is getting more and more competitive and therefore people must get more competitive; part of that requires having more self esteem and confidence. Even if a person does not really think they are the best, they need to create the illusion that they are. Only the best are wanted to be hired, therefore people must exhume as much confidence as possible. But this article argues that too much confidence is not good.

They use MySpace.com as an example. They argue that youth today want all the attention on them. On myspace.com people can create profiles with pictures and information about themselves. Yes, this website does shout “look at me look at me” but it is also a great networking tool. Similarly, there is facebook.com. The same argument can be said here that people just want to show off and make sure everyone knows how special they are. But there are so many great uses to facebook.com. Similar to myspace.com, facebook.com provides networking. You can see who is in your class if you need notes or want to study and you can find old friends that you otherwise would not be able to find. These profiles are not purely vanity. More and more facebook.com profiles are used for recruitment for jobs. With this shift, it is obvious that people will put their best on facebook.com and show off. They want to show that they are the best and deserving of the job, even if they personally do not feel this way.

The student run newspaper at the University of Southern California, called The Daily Trojan, responded to this article. The article was titled; You Probably Think This is About You. This article responded to the survey conducted. In response to the question of ruling the world, the author argues that students do not really think they could make the world better, they think that with how the world is today they cannot really make it worse. The author ends her article by saying “hey, I am special. And the world would be a depressing place if everyone thought they were average”. The world would be a depressing place and an unproductive place if everyone thought they were average. No one would strive to be the best and change things.

Perhaps youth of today are more self absorbed and narcissistic, but the world requires them to be. Being timid and reserved does not guarantee a job.