In a sense, narcissism is the dark side of individualism — freedom without responsibility, relationships without personal sacrifice, and positive self-views without grounding in reality.
What comes next? How will narcissism further evolve? In order to maintain elevated self-views in a world with the standard economic and social pathways blocked, individuals will need to migrate into other social realms that are less constrained by reality. For example, individuals could move to online social realities where they can succeed (e.g., social networking, gaming, Reddit), fantasy or “geek” subcultures (e.g., science fiction, live action role-playing), or other alternatives. In essence, growing income inequality in the real world could lead a population of narcissists to feed their self-views in fantasy cultures.
"In a sense, narcissism is the dark side of individualism — freedom without responsibility, relationships without personal sacrifice, and positive self-views without grounding in reality." This particular sentence struck me. We as a society, have been raised to believe in individualism and success to be determined by the quantity one has rather than the quality of one's life. I never realized that narcissism was actually increasing in prevalence and to take it a step further I question what aspect epigentics may play in future generations. I have often seen children, particularly in a school setting, that always receive positive feedback because we are afraid to upset them, upset their parents, rock the boat....etc. Employees are the same way. I wonder what ever happened to real? I hear others value it beyond riches, but to see this article, it seems they are very far and few between.