Is Social Media Turning Us Into Narcissists?

I was researching narcissism for a school essay recently and came across several articles about the so-called rise of narcissism due to social media.

I can see why it would be true. Twitter feeds, Facebook timelines, blog posts are all created with the expectation someone out there is going to read them and be interested in what that person has to say; that someone is going to like their photograph or want to know about their personal life. There are billions of voices on the web by now, and most of them feel entitled to some kind of attention. Narcissism is something everyone carries around with them in real life too, of course (you have to have some level of self-esteem and self-interest), but the internet allows for it in different, possibly more insidious ways.

The place where I notice the promotional kind of attention-seeking the most is in book promotions, probably because I follow so many blogs of authors. It's not exclusive to writers, but you can't move around in the blogosphere without bumping into a blog tour or book or cover release. Essentially, a lot of people are calling out "I am awesome!" or "I have something great to sell!". I don't think this is bad, particularly if someone's self-publishing or with a small press, as s/he has to contribute a significant amount of marketing.

That kind of thing does, however, raise some questions: How many promotional profiles built for the sole purpose of selling a product are actually tapping into an individual's narcissism and how many are normal people who just have something they want to share? How many people become more narcissistic over time because of social media? How many people are really all "Me, me, me!" and how many really care about the people they follow and interact with online?

Personally, I'd like to say I'm not more of a narcissist since I started blogging. I'd like to say my almost-three-years of blog posts haven't gone to my head, or that I'm unaffected by the fact people actually read the stuff I throw onto the web, or that I am still surprised when someone leaves a comment.

But I can't say I'm surprised when I receive comments anymore (though I'm still very thankful for them) because I know I have readers, and when real life conversation turns to the web and what people are doing on it, sometimes I feel like pointing out that hey, I have a site with more than 1000 followers and am kind of "established" in this corner of the web (though I never actually have said that). In short, I am proud of this blog. I like posting. I enjoy focusing on my own opinions, which is the whole reason I started The Eagle's Aerial Perspective.


What do you think? Do you believe narcissism is going up because of the internet? Do you see narcissistic traits in social media? Do you think the focused way social networking sites like Facebook and blogs promote the individual is a good or a bad thing?


-----The Golden Eagle

2013: Let's Get This Show On The Road

Hope you all have a fabulous 2013! 

2012 is over and 2013 has begun, believe it or not. Oddly enough, I'm having no trouble accepting that I have to end my dates with "13" instead of "12"; I'm looking forward to the new year, if only because it's a good opportunity for a reboot.

Starting with The Eagle's Aerial Perspective. I've been neglecting blogging since November and NaNoWriMo and didn't really make the effort I could have in December, either. Nothing very drastic is going to happen on this blog other than a few more posts per month (including book reviews, which is something I'd said I'd get back into last year yet did not . . . *cough*). Furthermore, I am going to try commenting on your blogs more often and stop calling return visits to your comments as much as I can do in one day.

As for other goals, I'm still formulating my list of things to get done this year (because I procrastinated at the end of December). I'm going to continue writing, certainly, and probably start working on another project like the Eagle Directory within the next few months--and then there's schoolwork and dance, and also my perennial resolution to finish teaching myself how to juggle. I hope I don't end up accomplishing the least important of the life skills the fastest, but I probably will. LOL.

Got any plans/goals/resolutions for the new year? Anything exciting ahead for you in 2013? Are you finding it hard to let go of 2012, or is it easy?


-----The Golden Eagle

Candle Dark And First Wolf By Carole Anne Carr + Website News!

Hello, everyone. A mix of stuff in this post today: Free books, and an update on my website The Eagle Directory.

First, the free books, because I'm sure that's all what you're really interested in ;).


Candle Dark by Carole Anne Carr is free on Amazon through the rest of today, July 8, and her book First Wolf will be free from July 12-13.

About Candle Dark:

Joshua was nearly eleven and he’d worked down the Blists Hill coal pit since he was seven and a bit. He hated it down there. He hated working in the dark, he hated the rats and the stink of the tunnels, and he especially hated it when the mine flooded and his wet boots rubbed his feet raw.
   Then on the day that Bradley the horsekeeper gave him another beating so bad he ached all over, he made up his mind to run away and find work on the Severn trows. But what would happen to poor Drummer, left behind in the dark? What would happen to his mum and sisters if he left them to the mercy of the evil Isaac Whitlock? And how could he sail to Bristol, when his dad had been set to work in the most dangerous part of the mine?
   Afraid of the river gangs and worrying about his dad, Joshua must decide whether to run for his life, or to stay in Coalport and try to protect his family.

On  www.amazon.com
On www.amazon.co.uk


First Wolf links:
On www.amazon.com
On www.amazon.co.uk

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Since I announced the launch of my website, I've made a couple changes.

Mostly, though, there's a search box. It crawls text and images, so you can see the pictures of all of the different birds by searching for "eagle" and clicking on the tab to the left and below the search box. Hope that helps those who wanted a method of looking up eagles by picture and not just name. Also, it allows you to search for specific attributes of different species, e.g. "stable population", "live in Europe", "eat fish", etc.

Furthermore, I've done a little fiddling with the design. Nothing big (it should look the same as it did when it first launched) but I think it'll work better on smaller screens. So far as I can tell, however, I need to either a.) Create a mobile site or b.) Completely overhaul some elements to make it work on mobile devices. Right now, the previews I've checked indicate the ED is terrible on anything below around 600-800px. Brainstorming to do . . .

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How's your weekend been? Is the heat wave smothering your area? Will you be downloading Candle Dark or First Wolf, or have you already?



-----The Golden Eagle

Secret Project Reveal: MY SHINY NEW WEBSITE

For the past year (yes, year) I've been writing, designing, coding, tweaking, debugging, and overall being perfectionist about a project I've only mentioned in passing on my blog.

I published it two days ago, on June 5. After having added a few things I think it's finally ready to be officially announced.

My new website is:

www.eagledirectory.org

I'd tell you what the site is about, but I'll let the homepage explain. You don't have to visit, of course (I'll still love you, dear blog reader) but I will shower you with virtual chocolate if you do. Or if you're one of those strange people--like me--who doesn't enjoy chocolate, then I offer virtual whatever-it-is you crave.

And here, I'll give you a screenshot to pique your interest if the URL isn't intriguing enough:

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So . . . what do you think? 

(Be honest and criticize, if you want. If you hate the design, or can't navigate, or find the content confusing, or have any other problem with the thing, tell me. Please. I want to make this site the best it can possibly be.)

-----The Golden Eagle

What I Did On My Summer Vacation Blogfest!

Guess what. I signed up for another blogfest, this one hosted by Michael Di Gesu at In Time . . ., whose blog you should definitely hop over and check out because it's awesome.

The objective?

"I want you to write a 300-500 word composition to what YOU did on your Summer vacation. Now for those of you who haven't had a vacation in years, I understand, but you can still join in the fun and post on what projects you worked on this summer.
Pictures are a must! I had posted dozens of my pics for all of you to visit gorgeous Canada with me. Let's relax and have a bit of fun. It could be about a great BBQ you had on the Fourth of July. Any memorable moment that took place over the summer."

So here's what I did on my summer vacation:

(Though I don't really get a summer vacation, per se. I'm homeschooled year-round, always have been, which I actually find is rather fun--I'd get bored if I didn't have stuff assigned.)

1. I went to my first dance competition.

I've been to Nutcracker auditions in the past, but hadn't competed in something outside of the dance studio before. So it was new for me, and I had fun. There were an awful lot of people there--hundreds of numbers, hundreds of people (though a lot of dancers had multiple dances, so there were quite as many there might have been). Everyone I knew placed, but what I really got out of it was the experience of being at an event like that. :) The studio is going again next year, and then I will be doing a pointe solo (cue nervousness). Yes, I do mean pointe as in ballet with shiny pink shoes and ribbons.

(SOURCE)

2. I started a new Science Fiction/Young Adult/Adventure novel.

I made a lot of progress during the summer. I'm still a few thousand words behind, but I plan on making that up this weekend and part of next week (if I manage to stick to the schedule), and then really moving into the home stretch during October.

(SOURCE)

3. I started building a website.

Just a summer project I decided to start, mostly because I wanted to find out about the nuts and bolts behind websites and play around with graphics. (My dislike of certain browsers *ahem* has increased with the knowledge that some follow World Wide Web Consortium (W3) HTML/XHTML/CSS rules and others do not.) No, I still am not going to tell you what the website's about. Though I do plan on posting on it once it's up.

(SOURCE)

4. Worried about flooding.

We ended up with a flooded basement. It wasn't that bad comparatively, but the furnace (which is huge and has oil in it) got lifted up and wedged into a corner . . . so it wasn't an insignificant amount of water.

5. Other miscellaneous stuff:

To end on a positive note, I randomly won a Barnes & Noble gift card from my library for writing book reviews. I pounced the second I learned they only wanted you to review things--after all, I do it already. As I was writing this post, what I ordered was delivered by UPS. Hooray!

And that was pretty much my summer . . .

What happened at your end? Anything noteworthy occur?


-----The Golden Eagle