4 ms·

I only barely understand the appeal of twitter so take this with a grain of salt, but it seems really narcissistic to inject yourself into your friends' wedding

by tkahn6 15y ago

I only barely understand the appeal of twitter so take this with a grain of salt, but it seems really narcissistic to inject yourself into your friends' wedding with something like this. It's their wedding; for them it's a life-altering milestone, for you it's 5 hours of friends and family and a hangover the next day (unless of course you're extremely close, but then 'Cheering' them is beyond tacky and impersonal). So when you 'Cheer' your friends' wedding you're making it about you and your relationship with the ceremony and the couple (i.e. "Yes. I have decreed this to be a wonderful event from my perspective and thus I shall Cheer it. Like and retweet if you agree it's wonderful."). You're no longer there in the moment for the experience and for the people who are getting married, you're there to let everyone know your perspective on the events in the moment they happen. The difference between Cheer and taking a photograph with your point-and-shoot is that the photographs are uploaded after the ceremony has happened and therefore it is "let's remember what happened on this day" rather than "this is what I thought of this particular moment, like if you also agree this was a particularly wonderful moment". Sorry if this is out of line, it's a very pretty site. This is just something that stuck out to me.

readme 15y ago
You're definitely right that the motivation behind a tweet, or a "like", or in this case a "cheer" is narcissistic. However, I don't think that makes a difference. Your observation is just that, an observation. Psychologists have made observations of this nature about human behavior already. If there was no common, narcissistic behavior amongst humans, then the word "narcissism" would never have been invented. Furthermore, we would never have developed a concept of narcissism at all. With that said, we all do narcissistic things. Narcissism is only a problem when it gets out of control. That is why we have expert psychologists and psychiatrists to take care of this, and define what is and is not an acceptable level of narcissism (in the DSM-IV definition for narcissistic personality disorder) Sure, there are reasons to be for, or against narcissistic behavior. If you like, you can personally hate narcissism every time you see it. But if you are so quick to jump the gun and call this novel little app "narcissistic" and declare you don't like it, because you must hold yourself to some higher moral standard, then you are probably very, very blind to much of your own narcissistic behavior. We are all narcissistic. Some of us are more narcissistic than others, and some of us are more aware of our own personalities than others. The bottom line is that regardless of the motivation for "cheering" (liking, or any other form) something, the end result is likely going to be fun times clicking shiny buttons for everyone, so just live it up.
farhad667 15y ago
Sorry for the late reply... Cheers were designed to be public expressions of love and appreciation, for anyone, anything, anywhere. Sure they get the cheerer some attention because they are public, but that's not the primary motivation driving creation. As such, the cheering someone elses wedding example is not really a common usecase. Unless you're cheering the couple to wish them well or something. More common is cheering the stuff in your own life that you appreciate. Cheering your pets, loved ones, favorite apps, beautiful concepts or great design are much more common. As you cheer things, what happens is that you reveal what you appreciate, and thus a little part of your heart, which makes it easier to connect with you (always along positive lines). Anyway... I hope you give it a shot and let me know what you think after. Cheers! Farhad - ceo Cheerful, inc.

by tkahn6 15y ago

readme 15y ago

You're definitely right that the motivation behind a tweet, or a "like", or in this case a "cheer" is narcissistic. However, I don't think that makes a difference. Your observation is just that, an observation. Psychologists have made observations of this nature about human behavior already. If there was no common, narcissistic behavior amongst humans, then the word "narcissism" would never have been invented. Furthermore, we would never have developed a concept of narcissism at all. With that said, we all do narcissistic things. Narcissism is only a problem when it gets out of control. That is why we have expert psychologists and psychiatrists to take care of this, and define what is and is not an acceptable level of narcissism (in the DSM-IV definition for narcissistic personality disorder) Sure, there are reasons to be for, or against narcissistic behavior. If you like, you can personally hate narcissism every time you see it. But if you are so quick to jump the gun and call this novel little app "narcissistic" and declare you don't like it, because you must hold yourself to some higher moral standard, then you are probably very, very blind to much of your own narcissistic behavior. We are all narcissistic. Some of us are more narcissistic than others, and some of us are more aware of our own personalities than others. The bottom line is that regardless of the motivation for "cheering" (liking, or any other form) something, the end result is likely going to be fun times clicking shiny buttons for everyone, so just live it up.

farhad667 15y ago

Sorry for the late reply... Cheers were designed to be public expressions of love and appreciation, for anyone, anything, anywhere. Sure they get the cheerer some attention because they are public, but that's not the primary motivation driving creation. As such, the cheering someone elses wedding example is not really a common usecase. Unless you're cheering the couple to wish them well or something. More common is cheering the stuff in your own life that you appreciate. Cheering your pets, loved ones, favorite apps, beautiful concepts or great design are much more common. As you cheer things, what happens is that you reveal what you appreciate, and thus a little part of your heart, which makes it easier to connect with you (always along positive lines). Anyway... I hope you give it a shot and let me know what you think after. Cheers! Farhad - ceo Cheerful, inc.