Contributors

Sunday, July 21, 2013



Are Blogs Narcissism Amplifiers?

       After a long break involving a move from one NY neighborhood to another and a frenetic season at work, I have returned to the blogosphere in the height of a skin-sticking, sweat-dripping July.
        Absence on this blog has left me with a fidgety, nagging feeling. Over the past few months, I took self-expression by the hand and stuffed it callously into a box labeled “daily grind monotony.”
       At a certain point, I began to look forward to returning to the blogosphere and sinking my teeth into colorful fashion photos, summer makeup woes, posts about the rare existence of available, good men…You know, typical fare for the 23 year old Jewish single female.

        Then, one evening, I came across a website that had an article titled “The 10 Most Compelling Subplots on Your Facebook Newsfeed.” The author (who has a penchant for scribbling bitingly sarcastic articles) listed different types of individuals who grate his nerves on Facebook.
       There were plenty. And according to this author (let’s call him Sir Derisive), “the blogger” is one of ‘em.
        Why? Because the blogger will annoyingly beg, borrow, and steal “likes” on social media. He or she will desperately fawn for approval and coerce others to check out the blog.
       Sir Derisive’s complaint against a blogger’s over-promoting on Facebook didn’t bother me. In fact, I readily plead guilty for scooping a “thumbs up” from Facebook friends like some tyrannical octopus with ravenous suctioning cups. I can over-promote to the point of “Goodness, can we just take this blogger and throw her into a pit full of snakes and scorpions already?” annoyance.


       So, yes, I understand the author’s frustration with bloggers on that account. Social media is the way to promote these days, and some of us (me!) take merciless advantage of it. Thus, I accept this criticism with a humbled heart.
      Yet, what did irk me about Sir Derisive’s commentary was his description of the blog as a “personal narcissism amplifier.”