Chronicle of Higher Education
Poor Narcissus: He could only gaze into a pool. Today’s college students can watch themselves endlessly on Flickr, MySpace, and YouTube on their 27-inch, flat-screen LCD monitors.

But does that make them narcissists?

Jean M. Twenge, an associate professor of psychology at San Diego State University, says gadgets and online social-networking sites have stoked the self-loving tendencies of modern students, known as “Millennials.” On Tuesday, Ms. Twenge unveiled her findings from a new study that describes this wired and coddled generation as the most narcissistic in recent history.

David P. Haney, associate vice chancellor for academic affairs at Appalachian State University, believes that students are not as easily defined as Ms. Twenge’s study suggests.

“There are a lot more opportunities for students to display their narcissism publicly, but that doesn’t mean they’re more narcissistic,” Mr. Haney says. “Technology’s not all that they’re doing: They go and do their homework, they have friends, they play sports.”

He describes the current generation, like its Baby Boomer parents, as a bundle of contradictions. Read full story