"I dunno -- I think the college-aged audience for reality TV is a wee bit more sophisticated that that,"

Clive, as a recent college grad, I can tell you that college kids as a whole aren't very sophisticated at all. Every single year in college, I was amazed out how closely college kids followed whatever new fad was hot at the time. When the Ashton Kutcher trucker hats were really big, every single frat boy wore one. Aviator sunglasses became really big, and before you know it everyone was wearing them (which saddened me, because I'd been wearing aviators for years). When those ridiculous looking Paris Hilton sunglasses became big, every girl was wearing them.

It's shocking, because you think of college as this time when people discover their individual selves, but time and time again I saw that the mainstream college student was just as apathetic to world events and stuck to the latest fads and tv shows as any high school student.

Remember when the whole Terry Schiavo thing was happening and you couldn't turn on one single news channel without seeing her face? Well, right after she died, somebody brought her up in my Spanish class, full of 19-22 year-olds, and several of them didn't even know who Terry Schiavo was.

The fact that college kids are getting more narcissistic doesn't surprise me either. This is anecdotal, but in my own college town, the "townies" hated the college kids because the college kids were asshole snobs to them. I experienced this firsthand once when I was accidently mistaken for a "townie" by a bunch of drunk college guys.

College has just become a poverty line of sorts that divides the middle class from the lower class. Every middle class kid assumes he has to go to college, and since a lot of them aren't hard to get into (which doesn't mean to say they're not good colleges, just that they have low standards for entry), everyone goes whether they're sophisticated or not. You can usually tell which people are going because they feel they have to: They usually major in business and join a frat or sorority.

A thoughtful, well-written, and insanely depressing post. Man, I so wish that all weren't true.

Clive, this reminds me of a post Lance Mannion did a while back:

http://lancemannion.typepad.com/lance_mannion/2004/11/embrace_your_in.html

Some key quotes:

"Who was it decided that children's movies must always have a moral?

And why must it always be a variant of the same one?

Follow your heart. Listen to your heart. Follow your dreams. Believe in yourself. Be true to yourself. These are all versions of the same idea. Kids, don't listen to the grown-ups, do what you want to do!"

...

"Hearts are capacious things. Lots of room to store a lot of junk. Following your heart, listening to your heart, seem to me to be like blindfolding yourself, climbing up into a large, crowded attic, grabbing the first thing you fall against, and coming downstairs expecting that you're carrying your grandmother's lost silver tea service when the odds are infinitely greater that what you have in your hands is a broken lamp, last year's Halloween decorations, or your own personal version of the Portrait of Dorian Gray.

Plus, because they happen to be close enough to each other inside you, it's easy to mistake the grumblings of your stomach for the beating of your heart.

Nazis, Muslim extremists, bank robbers, and Swift Boat Veterans for Truth listen to their hearts.

Napolean followed his dream.

And that guy phoning you up from some basement boiler room to peddle you a hot stock that'll be worth less than nothing in three days? He believes in himself."

Hal Niedzviecki wrote about how "individuality became the new conformity" in his book, Hello I'm Special.

As he says, "If I'm a rebel sanctioned by society, encouraged by my parents, and cheered on by Hallmark, what is left to rebel against?"

I found his writing suffered from hipster-itis, but the conceit is valid. If rebellion is mainstream, is it really rebellion?

I love the irony of it - all the knuckleheads proclaiming their "individuality" are too self-absorbed to realize they are really just sheep. But it's all so sad at the same time.

Darn hyperlink didn't work. It's:

http://www.popmatters.com/books/reviews/h/hello-im-special.shtml

Dusty Bear - apologies for degenerating into Monty Python quotes, but I always think of Life of Brian when this topic comes up:

Brian: You've got to think for your selves! You're all individuals!

The crowd: Yes! We're all individuals!

Brian: You're all different!

The crowd: Yes, we are all different!

Man in crowd: I'm not...

The crowd: Shh!

Ack - sorry about the extra spaces (it looked fine in preview).

As someone who works with famous people all the time (and blogs about it), I'm only surprised that the narcissism numbers aren't higher. Though I can't say that more talented actors are less affected by fame - in some ways they're more likely to be screwed up by it, because the emotional work they do makes them vulnerable. But training does make them more in control of their craft and less likely to need drugs or sushi to get them to come out of their trailer for the last shot of the day.

Moxmas, yes, precisely -- society would be a lot better off if about 30% of the people who achieved their dreams didn't achieve then.

Dusty Bear, yes, Hal's actually a friend of mine from way back in university -- we both went to the University of Toronto. That book is great!

Debcha, ahahha! Yes.

btl35, that's an extremely interesting perspective you've got. Great blog, BTW -- that story about "Bruce" is hilarious.

I am a college professor at a public university, the state flagship. I also interview high school students who are applying to my Ivy League alma mater.

I differ somewhat from Simon Owens.

I see a fair amount of diversity in how students dress and present themselves. Hairstyles are pretty much all over the place, and there's a variety in clothing too, although there people are limited by what is sold in stores. (Yes they could hunt out unusual things, but I don't blame anyone for not bothering.)

Terry Schiavo was a stupid case. Why did the whole country get fixated on one individual in a coma when there are many real problems confronting us in our personal lives and as a country? Because the Republicans wanted to make some kind of point. If someone was able to tune that out, I think that's a good thing!

I don't think of college as a time when people discover their individual selves. College students and high school students are very similar. Not surprising because only a few months or a year or two separate them.

When I went to college, I was really on my own and had very limited contact with my parents. This is rare today because communications have improved. Hence less opportunity for independence which fosters change and growth.

Growing up and discovering oneself is an ongoing process that for many begins in high school or college, but others really don't get there until their 20s or 30s. Hence divorces from early marriages-- because the parties did not really know themselves.

I do see many students who are in college because it's the thing to do. I don't recommend it. Let the kid work and go to school later if/when ready.

I think the culture has grown more narcissistic and college students merely reflect this.

I'm a highschool freshman, and I actually have to write an essay about the article that these statistics came from. I did a google search to find more statistics like this, and came upon this website.

However old this topic may be, I would like to point out a portion of this article. It says that, "The study... confirmed that celebrities are more narcissistic than average Americans. And- suprisingly - they seem to start that way"

This is what I am basing my persuasive essay on, that celebreties do not start out narcissistic, but rather develop thier narcissism once they are exposed to the limelight a while.

There are, of course, exceptions such as Oprah, and the exact opposite, like Britney Spears.

Personally, I think this survery is bullshit. It was ONLY taken from celbrities that have appeared on the show, "Loveline", and that attracts only a certain group of celebrities. For all we know, that specific group could be more narcissistic, wanting to go tell complete strangers what they should do with their love lives? Celebrities have more love affairs than any other social clas out there. (Except, maybe, for teenagers.)

Anyways, did anybody ever find/see the officially published results? I would love to use those in my essay.