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Many believe that narcissism is on the rise, largely due to parenting and social media.

Despite the narcissism narrative, norms of success in society rely on personal concerns and self-initiative.

The "self ethic" is now a cultural adaptation, not simply self-obsession or ego.

The “Me Generation” came of age in the 1970s, during what the writer Tom Wolfe famously called the “Me Decade.” But those adolescent Baby Boomers were mere “posers,” according to popular psychologist Jean Twenge, compared to those who grew up in the 1980s. That’s when self-absorption, entitlement, and the callous disregard of others went truly mainstream and shaped what Twenge dubbed the “Me Generation” in her 2006 book of that title.

Ego inflation continued apace, and a few years after publishing her book, Twenge and a colleague diagnosed a “narcissism epidemic” infecting the whole population. Not long after, in a 2013 cover story, Time magazine named post-1980 Millennials the “Me, Me, Me Generation,” “lazy, entitled narcissists.” Since then, despite strong pushback from some researchers, widespread claims of rampant “narcissism” have become commonplace. And young people themselves are convinced that the label accurately describes their generation.

The psychologists, journalists, and other observers telling the narcissism story have attributed the root causes of the outbreak to several general sources, including the self-esteem movement that arose in the 1970s—everyone is special, all must have prizes—and the spread of celebrity culture. Of course, parents get their share of the blame, cited for abandoning their disciplinary role and seeking their children’s approval, stroking their egos, and protecting them from every hardship. And, unsurprisingly, social media no sooner appeared than it became the prime suspect. The evidence of vanity and self-obsession was there for all to see—people posting selfies, clamoring for attention, and polishing their........

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