Narcissism, selfies, steroids, social media...

...have seen a few friends of friends on social media recently who went working out and lo and behold, within months they are advertising their services as fitness and nutrition experts and entering body building competitions...even though they are so obviously taking steroids that it's laughable.

It strikes me that this might be from the same thought process that sees girls stare at themselves in front of mirrors and change their profile pic constantly, not to record any achievement or show anything that might be of some interest (ie. at a concert, on holidays, at a function...anything) but simply to gain likes about their looks.

And now we will have a festival of sport where much of the time will be taken up by players trying to use any opportunity to take off their shirt and show their tattoos and abs, and cameras panning to pretty girls in the crowd.

We are truly in an inane, vacuous, look at me even though I haven't actually anything to show except a pose era. Is this the future that will become more acute as social media takes over...or a passing fad?

Wibbs

20th century was seen as the Century of the Self, the 21st it seems may be seen as the Century of the Self involved. Social media weaponises attention seeking by its very nature.

Zombienosh

Just step away from it, I've deleted Facebook and life is better.

qo2cj1dsne8y4k

What's wrong with being narcissistic though

Your Face

A lot of out of shape sweat hogs share similar opinions.

Duggy747

Or when they join Multi-level marketing schemes and try to flog their horseshít products onto everyone, changing their profile, pictures, and how they talk to resemble something like a spambot.

"Hey everyone, just woke up this morning feeling on top of the world thanks to this holistic, gluten-free, aloe vera, ancient Chinese green tea kale spirulina wheat-grass detox smoothie! Time to take on the world today! You can feel like this too by messaging me for more information and get in on this great opportunity!"

kunst nugget

Wibbs wrote: »

20th century was seen as the Century of the Self, the 21st it seems may be seen as the Century of the Self involved. Social media weaponises attention seeking by its very nature.

Would it not be the Century of the Selfie?

Mr. Incognito

You should take a selfie with some Lemons.

kneemos

LexieOnRale wrote: »

What's wrong with being narcissistic though

https://www.google.ie/url?q=https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-human-beast/201410/is-narcissism-all-bad&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiSoumQgonNAhXJAMAKHTCTAeYQFggiMAI&usg=AFQjCNEKcIE7x1JxEjl3fNq6ZBDFUOdNnQ

Winterlong

It would not bother me in the slightest to be honest. Its easy enough to avoid it if you dont like it. And sure arent some people a pleasure to look at?

buried

Going to be very depressing for these selfie addicts when they eventually get older into their 80's-90's, the only old photos of themselves will be thousands of self portraits with no events or memories to go with them, just a gradual self portrait of them getting older and more wrinklier

kunst nugget

LexieOnRale wrote: »

What's wrong with being narcissistic though

Great for you, boring as shíte for everyone else. Narcissism stops you developing as a person and destroys any hope of empathizing with others. Also, can anyone ever be happy spending all their time analyzing themselves and trying to achieve some notion of self perfection? If you think that sounds like a great thing to do, knock yourself out.

galljga1

Duggy747 wrote: »

Or when they join Multi-level marketing schemes and try to flog their horseshít products onto everyone, changing their profile, pictures, and how they talk to resemble something like a spambot.

"Hey everyone, just woke up this morning feeling on top of the world thanks to this holistic, gluten-free, aloe vera, ancient Chinese green tea kale spirulina wheat-grass detox smoothie! Time to take on the world today! You can feel like this too by messaging me for more information and get in on this great opportunity!"

Sounds super, just sent you a PM.

Your Face

Your Face wrote: »

A lot of out of shape sweat hogs share similar opinions.

After a few ultra marathons, I wouldn't class myself as an out of shape sweat hog. I'd be fit, and pretty used to a gym...hence I can discern the difference between the power lifting types and those whose achievement is reaching around to injection steroids into their backside and take selfies of themselves at the gym.

Oh yes, shame on them for feeling good about themselves and wanting to express it.

Zombienosh

Zombienosh wrote: »

Just step away from it, I've deleted Facebook and life is better.

I actually like facebook, I actually use it a lot, interacting with family and friends who live away, meeting up with others for trail runs and the like. It's just a certain subgenre of users seem to suffer from this need to take pictures of themselves doing nothing, but posing. Which is harmless enough when it comes to a pout in a dress, but the steroid thing seems to be a new development taking hold.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Oh yes, shame on them for feeling good about themselves and wanting to express it.

I don't know that they do.

I think anyone who changes their pic multiple times to harvest likes, or takes steroids to enhance their body, fundamentally doesn't feel good about themselves at all and they are searching for reassurance and affirmation.

kunst nugget

Duggy747 wrote: »

Or when they join Multi-level marketing schemes and try to flog their horseshít products onto everyone, changing their profile, pictures, and how they talk to resemble something like a spambot.

"Hey everyone, just woke up this morning feeling on top of the world thanks to this holistic, gluten-free, aloe vera, ancient Chinese green tea kale spirulina wheat-grass detox smoothie! Time to take on the world today! You can feel like this too by messaging me for more information and get in on this great opportunity!"

The twenty tens - the decade where everybody became a brand.

screamer

Stupid people with no brains don't bother me. I don't use face ache at all you need to be a certain type to be attracted to it as a self promotional platform. It's all fake and contrived. I prefer to live my life than try to go around making others envious of it.......

suicide_circus

LexieOnRale wrote: »

What's wrong with being narcissistic though

You're a make up artist or something aren't you?

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't know that they do.

I think anyone who changes their pic multiple times to harvest likes, or takes steroids to enhance their body, fundamentally doesn't feel good about themselves at all and they are searching for reassurance and affirmation.

Why do you assume that they take steroids?

Having said that, I don't understand it either. Once lived with a chap who was a body builder, looking to go professional, and he would take steroids. Once we were chatting about 'em and he was saying how it was affecting him - getting angry for no reason, lashing out, etc., and when I asked why he just didn't stop taking them, since there was so many negative implications, he said he wasn't sure, but just couldn't stop.

Wibbs

LexieOnRale wrote: »

What's wrong with being narcissistic though

If you have to ask...

Walter H Price

It is interesting watching the growing impact of social media platforms in modern society. what amaze's me constantly how quickly it moves , 5 years ago if i was on a night out with the lads wed of been chatting up girls at the bar on the dance floor etc... increasingly now wen were out the boys that are still single are on the phones on Tinder looking for girls in the bar , their checking out their instagram , facebook etc.. before even seeing or speaking to them they know what they look like (in various pose's / outfits / in the nip in some cases) what they like , where they've been its s fascinating and only 3 or 4 years ago it didn't exist.

I work in social media , data mining and marketing and understanding the psychology of these platforms its hard to see them ever dissapear in fact they will only grow , become more integrated and more widely used. Th cult of the social celebrity will only grow further.

It may be a little detached and and some may say vacuous and vain but overall it is progress , we can get new and opinion from multiple sources some truly independent , it has sparked movements and gradually sowing the seeds of change globally. I think in time the coming to prominence of social networking will be seen as one of the pivotal moments in human development.

lee_baby_simms

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't know that they do.

I think anyone who changes their pic multiple times to harvest likes, or takes steroids to enhance their body, fundamentally doesn't feel good about themselves at all and they are searching for reassurance and affirmation.

I think people can quickly become dependent on shares, likes, views etc. What was originally a display of vanity can quickly become a craving for validation and hence a propensity to point out others flaws as they perceive them.

"You don't like looking at my abs? You must be a fat loser then." etc.

valoren

It's a new type of addiction.
Social media is what feeds it.
You post some pictures and poses and you get likes and shares.
You need to see the notification icon going crazy to get your fix.
Hence the constant posting and in extreme cases reposting.

Dr Crayfish

Why would you have such muppets on your facebook? I shut it down for a couple of years but came back recently. What I do now is hide the people who post pictures of themselves constantly and pictures of their dinners etc, the people I can't delete as they might be offended, i.e. cousins etc.

Mostly my insight into this self absorbed world has been through casually using online dating sites. Women posting pictures of themselves doing deadlifts, and pictures of their smashed avocado breakfast. How is that in any way interesting?

Sure, the generation they're calling "millennials" are totally into themselves but the best thing to do is ignore it and don't get carried away with it yourself.

Deleted User

Deleted User wrote: »

Why do you assume that they take steroids?

Having said that, I don't understand it either. Once lived with a chap who was a body builder, looking to go professional, and he would take steroids. Once we were chatting about 'em and he was saying how it was affecting him - getting angry for no reason, lashing out, etc., and when I asked why he just didn't stop taking them, since there was so many negative implications, he said he wasn't sure, but just couldn't stop.

Because they have entered bodybuilding competitions. Now granted that may be possible (albeit rare) for a serious athlete, but this would be guys in their early 30, in one case a few months after giving up a 10 year drinking and recreational drug habit. Even his cheeks are sculpted...:D

Steroid dependency is well documented. They are often used as a short cut...but no one really comes off them once they start getting praise for the way they look. It all feeds into the same dependency cycle.

kunst nugget

Deleted User wrote: »

Oh yes, shame on them for feeling good about themselves and wanting to express it.

Tbf, there's a massive difference between the occasional photo of a person putting their best foot forward, looking good and enjoying themselves and the sort of person that incessantly puts up photos on social media of themselves vacantly duckfacing and you know they've taken dozens and dozens of the same photo to get the perfect picture.

Omackeral

The thing that I find kind of amusing is the whole taking of a photo on a night out. They snap one in a group or with a friend. Look at it, analyse it and if it's not good enough or flattering enough, they'll stage the whole lot again. They're literally falsifying memories.

the evasion_kid

We're living in the me generation...

thegreatgonzo

Facebook is the place where I put up my photos of my dog, cat and cows and occasional work injuries. Oh and I share occasional Viz posts. That's about it. My life is too boring to document.

SEPT 23 1989

Feel sorry for young lads growing up today having to do that to their bodies to fit in

FTA69

Walter H Price wrote: »

increasingly now wen were out the boys that are still single are on the phones on Tinder looking for girls in the bar , their checking out their instagram , facebook etc.. before even seeing or speaking to them they know what they look like (in various pose's / outfits / in the nip in some cases) what they like , where they've been its s fascinating and only 3 or 4 years ago it didn't exist.

How in the name of God do you put up with that? If I was out with my mates and everyone had their head stuck in a phone and the whole dynamic of the night out was people on Tinder I'd just f*ck off home to be honest. I'd sooner go drink cans in the park on my own than spend a supposedly social evening revolving around people staring mouth agape at screens. Your buddies sound like sh*t craic.

There is nothing worse than being in company in the pub and having some eejit thrust a camera phone in your face or try and interrupt conversation in order to take a photo so other people can look at it on the internet; and then you're made out to be a grumpy c*nt because you don't enthusiastically dive into every photo with a contrived expression.

My Instagram is filled with nothing but photos of scenery and buskers. Feck taking photos on a night out. I'm having too much fun to care.

Dr Crayfish

What the f*ck is Instagram? Somewhere where you post pictures? Is Facebook not the same thing? Am I the only person in the dark here?

Dr Crayfish

Dr Crayfish wrote: »

What the f*ck is Instagram? Somewhere where you post pictures? Is Facebook not the same thing? Am I the only person in the dark here?

Instagram was bought by Facebook, so technically the same thing. Pretty much it's just for people who want just the photos, without any of the other crap that comes with the latter. Barely any clutter, no stupid ass games and awful invites that go along with them.

take everything

Wibbs wrote: »

20th century was seen as the Century of the Self, the 21st it seems may be seen as the Century of the Self involved. Social media weaponises attention seeking by its very nature.

Very true.
It's a fascinating area.

Walter H Price

FTA69 wrote: »

How in the name of God do you put up with that? If I was out with my mates and everyone had their head stuck in a phone and the whole dynamic of the night out was people on Tinder I'd just f*ck off home to be honest. I'd sooner go drink cans in the park on my own than spend a supposedly social evening revolving around people staring mouth agape at screens. Your buddies sound like sh*t craic.

There is nothing worse than being in company in the pub and having some eejit thrust a camera phone in your face or try and interrupt conversation in order to take a photo so other people can look at it on the internet; and then you're made out to be a grumpy c*nt because you don't enthusiastically dive into every photo with a contrived expression.

Yeh i would agree its certinly changed the dyna,ic but i think you just have to roll with it its not a fad its becoming the new normal ,. im with my Fiance 5 years now so Tindr kinda bypassed me, even though im tech mad and only 25 but 5 of the lads have gotten girlfriends in the last two years all started out on tindr. Il add you on Facebook/Snapchat is the new getting a number , no point trying to fight it really and i get a bit of a laugh out of watching them to be honest. the constant photos is odd perticulary among the lads its just not somthing you saw a few years ago like girls were always mad for it but every night out wi the lads now involves a group selfie and loads of pics for their instagram , snapchat stories , facebook profiles etc

screamer

Social media and anti social people. It's simple really people are completely losing conversational ability obsessed with perfect pictures and poses and when you see them in real life they look nothing life their photo shopped selfies and can barely look you in the face to talk....Sad world to be growing up in.

Sugar Free

Deleted User wrote: »

Steroid dependency is well documented. They are often used as a short cut...but no one really comes off them once they start getting praise for the way they look. It all feeds into the same dependency cycle.

I agree there could well be a psychological element to it in many cases.

However for the serious bodybuilder/strength athlete the need to stay always 'on' to some extent through blasting and cruising (google it) rather than fully cycling on/off is because of the damage they've already done to their HPG axis and the likely drop off in mass/strength theyd see if they went back to relying on their natural testosterone production.

Of course the fact that some of these people are willing to risk long-term/irreversible effects on their hormone production for what is rarely a lucrative career possibly supports your argument!

Sugar Free

Sugar Free wrote: »

Of course the fact that some of these people are willing to risk long-term/irreversible effects on their hormone production for what is rarely a lucrative career possibly supports your argument!

One of them just got a trophy.

He looks like something you'd see in a magazine.

He actually put it up on Facebook with a message about the months of hard work. Yes...months...:D

yourdeadwright

What's the story with ever second person being a personal trainer now,
With the internet it shouldn't even be a job, u can look up on line diets and training programmes free,
Then the likes of that WBBF thing on there website in the first few lines they say themselves they do not test there contestants and do not claim to be a drug free competition yet you have TV and radio promoting people taking part,

Sugar Free

Deleted User wrote: »

One of them just got a trophy.

He looks like something you'd see in a magazine.

He actually put it up on Facebook with a message about the months of hard work. Yes...months...:D

Well I certainly don't begrduge the pursuit of trophies and wanting to better themselves. I just don't understand the need to share it with the world or dramaticize it into something bigger than it was.

retro:electro

It's crazy. And I noticed just how mad it's gone when I went back to college as a mature student (I'm 28) and found myself thrust amongst girls and boys ten years younger than me. Now for a small gap of only ten years, the difference was crazy. Heads constantly stuck in the phones, and would rather communicate with someone on Facebook than engage in a conversation with someone who sat down beside them. If a lecturer cracks a joke, most of the time it's met with a blank expression. Sure, in their heads they may be thinking "lol", but they can't physically express it, it's like any form of articulation and personal development has been stunted, their brains are literally on mute while their online presence is "always on".

I also notice the lack of empathy, and I believe this is because nowadays, nobody is actually ever alone. The capacity for solitude is necessary in order to be able to reach out to others and to empathise. I say this with the best of intentions and in no way meaning to offend, but it's like they are showing some signs of being on the aspergers spectrum; they can't make eye contact, or respond to body language, and are unable to interact properly in the real world. They're just disengaged from reality.

Dog Man Star

Through a work colleague, I saw the facebook page of a woman I work with. I always thought she had a high opinion of herself, but on her facebook page were about 100 photos of her face she had taken. Over and over again, the same pose. It reminded me of The Shining when he types out the same sentence over and over.

It was like the work of a lunatic. She's in her late 30s too, which makes it so much worse.

Wibbs

Omackeral wrote: »

The thing that I find kind of amusing is the whole taking of a photo on a night out. They snap one in a group or with a friend. Look at it, analyse it and if it's not good enough or flattering enough, they'll stage the whole lot again. They're literally falsifying memories.

I would say because we're constantly bombarded and have been for years with Hollywood and media false movie moments. Where even off the cuff stuff is scripted. We're surrounded by that, so our own lives may feel ordinary and mundane by comparison. If all you see are photoshopped moments and people, then it makes sense to replicate them in your own life. That also massively increases the private pressures to be publicly "liked", to be seen as part of the society. IMH it's one of the big stressors and why mental illnesses are increasing to beat the band. Hell even mental illnesses can be a social "comfort" themselves for some. I have a label now, I belong. Imagine if you were like that, getting better would be a disadvantage in many ways. You would risk losing one of your major social signifiers.

anna080 wrote: »

I say this with the best of intentions and in no way meaning to offend, but it's like they are showing some signs of being on the aspergers spectrum; they can't make eye contact, or respond to body language, and unable to interact properly in the real world.

The irony is social media, forums and the like have been an enormous boon to many folks with actual Aspergers. It can be far more comfortable for them to interact that way, rather than face to face. Over the years I've met "interwebs people" who came across as funny, clever, gregarious and interesting folks, who in "real life" you, or certainly at least me, would be unlikely to interact with. They would be otherwise largely invisible. It's been great for people like that. Ditto for the very shy, the introverts etc. If it's somehow now working in reverse and increasing such tendencies in non spectrum folks that's interesting. And not a little worrying too.

kunst nugget

Dog Man Star wrote: »

Through a work colleague, I saw the facebook page of a woman I work with. I always thought she had a high opinion of herself, but on her facebook page were about 100 photos of her face she had taken. Over and over again, the same pose. It reminded me of The Shining when he types out the same sentence over and over.

Best analogy ever.

Superhorse

Read an article recently that said the average 20 something if present trends continue will spend 2.7 years of their entire life on facebook alone and 3.8 on social media in it's entirety. I found those stats frankly very worrying.

kunst nugget

I have to say my relationship with facebook has changed drastically over the last couple of years. I use to post stuff without ever really thinking about it but now I'm questioning why I might want to post something - is it merely to project a positive image of myself? Is it to stroke my own ego? - and as a result I've stopped posting anything personal, whether it's something positive that's happened to me or not, because it's started to feel like patting myself on the back and looking for positive re-enforcement from passing people on the internet. It feels more and more like an empty experience. I'll post links to articles I like or tunes I like but that's probably as far as it goes most of the time these days.

osarusan

Superhorse wrote: »

Read an article recently that said the average 20 something if present trends continue will spend 2.7 years of their entire life on facebook alone and 3.8 on social media in it's entirety. I found those stats frankly very worrying.

Ah that's not too bad.

Japanese 'salaryman' making the average commute to Tokyo centre from one of the surrounding cities/commuter belts will spend 3-3.5 years of his life on the train.

pragmatic1

I don't understand why everything has to be recorded and shared on social media. People are definitely more self absorbed today.