Are we raising a generation of narcissists?

Or, are we just becoming more narcissistic in general?

(How many hits did I get on my blog today? Let me check.)

Teaching in the college classroom, I do find that students have a higher opinion of their work than the actual work they turn in (at times).

We are society given to how many like us on Facebook, how many “followers” we have on Twitter, how many hits we have on our blogs, etc.

In my new routine of working out, I have to do cardio with dozens of TV screens all around me, many of which are turned to whole stations given to narcissism. There are the “reality” shows. These are people who are famous for only being famous. There are the sports channels. It’s not about talent anymore. It is about audacious talent. And in sports programming, it’s not even about the athlete anymore. It’s about the “on air” talent.

In the NFL there are several coaching vacancies and one name that gets bantered around to come back to coaching is Jon Gruden, who coached the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl championship. He is now a color analyst for ESPN. Every year his name comes up, but ever year he just stays in the booth. Why go through the work of being a coach when you are the “on air talent” making money and people just listen to you and look at you?

We are giving the next generation too much a sense of entitlement. It’s because in our own generation we are getting pulled into that same mentality. We want things provided. Hard work does pay off… but if you can win the lottery, or you can get 15 minutes of fame on some reality show… why risk hard work that could end up in nothing?

It may be the “next generation” that thinks too highly of themselves, but we are the generation that fed them that line.

The lessons of life still need to be taught. We still need one generation speaking into the life of the next generation. The stories of hard work and success still need to be told. It is time to quit letting a younger generation think they “know it all” and step in and instruct.

We will ALL be better for it.