Are we talking about people taking selfies or narcissists?...
I was talking about pathological narcissists, of course, and from a personal experience. And no, it was not about some cheesy romantic story, as it was a business relationship. And not only me, but a dozen other colleagues in that instance, and later we found out there is a trail of serious damage done to others in the past as well.
... Certainly narcissism is on a continuum and there are degrees that are more or less problematic...though I am not sure how narcissists directly harm others with their self-absorption...
Agree on the continuum. As for damage to others, there is huge body of work, from academic research to books, documenting precisely the damage to others, in personal and business settings. And it is not just through self-absorbtion, but mostly through extreme and aggressive selfishness. Easy to google it.
... Taking a selfie or making a self-portrait are two different modalities of the same desire but doing either doesn't make a person pathological narcissist to be feared or maligned...
Agree... up to a point. That point being: selfies, in my interpretation, indicate narcissistic
tendencies that, when left unchecked, may or may not lead to a full-blown case. This youngest generation has not "invented" narcissism, of course. It is with us since the dawn of the mankind, and certainly from the Greek times, where the term originated. We all have it, to a degree. However, most major religions, as well as most social norms criticize it in one way or another, and rightly so. From "pride" as one of "the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins" (Wikipedia), to President Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." What is different with the latest generation, is that the technology is allowing them to indulge in it on a scale and speed never seen before. The sheer speed of it is outpacing parental or societal ability to mitigate it.
... I posted a selfie my grandfather took in the 1950s. Are you saying he is a narcissist? I have taken self portraits or selfies on several occasions. Does that make me a narcissist?...
I keep arguing, from the beginning of this thread, that your granddad did not take a selfie, but a self-portrait. I do not know about you, maybe you did a selfie, maybe you did a self-portrait. The difference being the sheer amount, frequency, and intended distribution. If your granddad did it dozens of times per day, as our kids do, and then printed it dozens of times and plastered light poles in your neighborhood with it, than, indeed, he took a selfie. But I doubt he did that.
... Are you saying that in all you years of photography that you have never made a casual self portrait of yourself? That is incomprehensible.
Like most photographers, I suspect, I am rather camera shy and prefer to be behind it. However, in the spirit of blending in with the younger generation, and in the (vain) hope it will make me younger, here is one of rare self-portraits I did, several years ago. You will notice that I was actually trying on sunglasses in a store, and the purpose of the shot was thus rather utilitarian.
