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Dr. Grier blogs about Narcissism and other current topics.>
Narcissism at the Airport.
September 15, 2009
My colleagues and I of late have been discussing the phenomenon of the use of cell phones in the public square.
For me this has become an issue because I find myself traveling a lot these days. And spending time in airports has become pretty routine stuff for me.
There was a time when I used to sit in airports and "people watch". Now, when I sit in airports I find myself surrounded by and inundated with uninvited cell phone conversations.
I was quietly sitting in Chicago enjoying typing on my computer, when a young woman came and sat in the empty chair next to me. She pulled out her phone, dialed up her mother, and began an inappropriate intimate conversation of which I really had no desire to be a part. I found myself getting up and moving across the waiting area.
But of course even that's not enough anymore. It seems that three and even four cell phone conversations, many in loud voices, fill every area of the airport terminal these days.
I find these kinds of people to be narcissists. Do they really believe that I and everyone around them want to hear their conversations? What possesses them to "impose" their personal observations on everyone else who happens to be within range of their voices?
The other day in Reagan National Airport a young man was bragging to his boss about his business meetings. He was performing in front of his involuntary audience, insisting that we be part of his conversation with the unseen man at the other end of the ether. I do not exaggerate when I say I had a headache by the time he got off the phone.
I am growing to dislike cell phones. They have a purpose I know, but certainly it can't be to give narcissists the ability to make everyone around them uncomfortable.
We live in a society that cultivates narcissism. Cell phones, texting, social networking, you tube and twitter -- they all give any person the opportunity to "step up on stage" and tell the world -- whether the world wants to hear or not -- what that person feels or thinks or is doing at that very moment.
Before, only two-year olds had that privilege, and Mom was the captive audience. And narcissism had nothing to do with it.
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