Technology, Narcissism, and the Moral Sense: Implications for Instruction

Numerous researchers (Kohn, 1994; Kottler, 1992; Katz, 1993a, 1995; Streibel, 1994; Tingle, 1992) have recently examined the rise of narcissism in American culture and especially its relationship to education. However, William Damon's (1995) analysis of narcissism, which he frames against the larger dynamic of related social and cultural realities, is particularly engaging, although somewhat ominous: “Our heightened concern with children's internal mental states has combined with the increased child‐centeredness of modern times to create crippling imbalances in children's views of themselves and the world. When we tell children that their first goal is self‐love, we are suggesting to them that they are the center of the universe. By contributing further to the already child‐centered orientation of modern culture, this emphasis can push a child toward a narcissistic insensitivity to the needs of others. We should not dispute the value of self‐love, but we should question its utility as a primary goal in raising and educating children.” (p. 77) Damon's assessment of child‐rearing practices offers compelling reasons to reconsider self‐love as the central focus of such practices. His comments are additionally significant because they suggest a causative connection between child‐centeredness and narcissism and between narcissism and social insensitivity. “In citing these connections, Damon is echoing Christopher Lasch's (1979) equally troubling warning made almost twenty years ago in The Culture of Narcissism —a warning linking the ‘culture of narcissism’ to numerous dysfunctions within social institutions, including a multiplicity of failings in schooling.” (Ryan, 1997, p. 233)