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> America has a narcissism problem. It's not just America > If you want to be happy and find fulfillment, don’t try to be Beyoncé or Elon Musk; instead, find

• camillomiller 8y ago
  > It's not just America America is not even the worst offender. Check out China and SE Asia. Only places in the world where it's completely normal to center the marketing of every single phone around how good it is at taking selfies. China is single-handedly responsible for the introduction of the beautify non-sense in smartphone cameras.
  • simplicio 8y ago
    Yea, I don't particularly have anything for or against selfies, but its kind of bizarre to look around nightspots in Vietnam and notice literally every other person taking selfies. Far more than in similar places in the States. Though to be fair "X is true in the US" isn't really saying it isn't true elsewhere. Just that the writer is familiar with the US, and isn't making a statement one way or another about places they aren't familiar with. (Though in anycase, the article isn't really about selfies, despite the title)
  • corv 8y ago
    Regarding Asia that’s an apt observation that goes right against the premise of the author.
• s-shellfish 8y ago
  It's the combination of perpetually being reminded of how big the world is, compared to how small an impact an individual can have. That's just all it is. It's not narcissism. It's reality being a reminder, constantly - the beating heart of the internet simply says - you are small. And we are. All of us. But we also aren't. Because, we all do have impact. Reality is nothing more than what it is. You can be ignored, feel silenced, but, you always exist, on the internet. Your point makes sense, and it reinforces both sentiments. See what you want to see in it. That's what we do. I see me, I see you.
  • warent 8y ago
    This sounds poetic, but almost to the point of gibberish, not to cause offense. "Reality is nothing more than what it is?" It's not clear what's meant by that or how it adds to what you're saying. It's probably different from person to person, but the internet doesn't make me feel small. It makes me feel almost limitless because there's an incredibly massive wealth of information and communication that's accessible to me, just like everyone else. Even without the internet, just knowing our place in the universe is enough. Neil deGrasse Tyson put it best: “I look up at the night sky, and I know that, yes, we are part of this Universe, we are in this Universe, but perhaps more important than both of those facts is that the Universe is in us. When I reflect on that fact, I look up—many people feel small, because they’re small and the Universe is big, but I feel big, because my atoms came from those stars.”
    • s-shellfish 8y ago
      > It's probably different from person to person, but the internet doesn't make me feel small. It makes me feel almost limitless because there's an incredibly massive wealth of information and communication that's accessible to me, just like everyone else. Have you ever tried to change something to see a wave of yourself wash over everything? You can call that narcissism, or confidence. Yes, we are all connected to a wealth of information. But you are also a part of what makes it what it is. Don't forget that.
    • chillwaves 8y ago
      > "Reality is nothing more than what it is?" That statement of acceptance makes perfect sense to me.
• ionised 8y ago
  Finding the thing you are good at is difficult though. I'd wager most people will die without ever finding it.