Did there used to be this many narcissists?

You're not imaging it. 

There have always been narcissists. Caravaggio's masterpiece Narcissus was painted 1597-1599, and he obviously didn't pull the concept out of thin air.

But many psychologists are saying that there really are more narcissists these days than there used to be. 

Sure, some of the increase may just be an increase in awareness of the problem. As with autism. I have a hunch that the stats on how many autistic people exist are inflated by the definition of autism having been expanded. Autism is now considered a broad spectrum of behaviors, not just Rainman-like behavior. My career was in tech, and a lot of the colleagues we considered your typical techie oddballs would now be characterized as "on the spectrum." 

It's likely the same with narcissism. The term, in all its glorious (mis)understanding, trips off pretty much everyone's tongue. And when the inglorious spectacle of a manifestly disordered president - a fellow who, when it comes to narcissism, pretty much checks every box - invades our lives, a lot of us are thinking/fretting about narcissism 24/7. 

But it's also likely that technology - all that Insta, all that TikTok - and the equating of success and happiness with having a distinct personal brand have resulted in greater levels of self-absorption. Influencer as a profession, anyone?

One of the more spectacular manifestations of narcissism that I've seen recently came across my timeline. 

Jennifer P is a NJ stay-at-home dog mom (nice work, if you can get it, I suppose) who has been cataloging her "fitness journey" for years. I don't know how many folks she actually influences - when I looked at her TikTok, the number was fewer than 2,000 - but earlier in the fall she was getting an awful lot of views, and it wasn't for all those butt angles of her  tightening her glutes in her lululemons. 

I won't be using the full name for Jennifer P, but it's out there. (Click the linked article and see for yourself.) But I'm not using it because I feel kind of bad for her. An influencer with little influence who brought a virtual ton of bricks down on her virtual head, and who keeps posting (at least as of this mid-October writing) videos continuing to excuse herself from any stupid-doing while assuring her meager pack of followers, and herself, that what she did was fine and dandy, that she can't believe she's become such a thing (and such a target), and that she's really ok. 

So, kinda sorta sad. 

But a pretty good example of narcissism run amok. 

What Jenny from NJ did was put out one of her exercise vids and decide to make it about "gym etiquette." But she wasn't pointing out that folks should put the weights back, and wipe their sweat off the equipent they'd just used. No, she took on a fellow gymgoer, bitching her out for "photobombing" her video, and accusing her of doing it deliberately. When IRL, all the accusee was doing was being a gymgoer. Here's how it went down:

The video was set up to focus on [Jennifer P] completing her routine on a bench, but more of the gym beyond her was visible, including a row of weights and mirrors. During her set, a woman stepped into frame to return her weights and to stretch in front of the mirror, seemingly to check her form.

[Jennifer P]  appeared irritated as she glanced at the woman and then looked at her camera, as if to confirm that the woman was included in her shot. She appeared irritated as she switched to leg lifts before finally dropping to the floor and approaching her phone.

Off-screen, [Jennifer P] asked the woman why she was standing there. When the woman expressed confusion, [Jennifer P]  stated: "Because you're annoying me. You're annoying me. You're doing this on purpose."

The woman replied something inaudible to [Jennifer P]  before grabbing another set of weights and walking out of the frame.

But that wasn't enough for [Jennifer P] , who said:
"Don't work out next to me. Don't work out next to me. Please, don't work out next to me."

Ironically, [Jennifer P]  wrote in a text overlay on the video: "Gym Etiquette Lesson 47: Don't photobomb the content creator."

She also wrote in the video's caption: "She did that sh*t on purpose." (Source: ComicSands)

I'm not going to say that all hell broke lose, but partial hell sure did. And all of a sudden, viral being viral, a whole lot of TikTokers were weighing in on Jennifer P's "delusional level of entitlement" and lack of understanding of what gym etiquette actually means. To the world at large, Jennifer P is no Emily Post of the Gym. One critic even wondered whether the whole thing was a skit. 

Then some big kahuna fitness influencer, one Joey Swoll - Joey Swoll of the 8.1 million TikTok followers - came for Jennifer P, suggesting that if she needed so much private space, she needed to build herself a home gym.

Jennifer P, like a true narcissist, found it impossible to accept any responsibility or blame for the incident, and kept posting back. Some of her commenters warned Jennifer P that she was going to lose her gym membership over this, but Jennifer P insisted that she'd been a member for 17 years, and no way were they going to kick her out.

A short while after she posted her NFW would they expel me video, Jennifer P was kicked out of her gym.

Oh. 

Maybe Jennifer P was having a bad day. Maybe she was having a menopausal meltdown. Maybe one of the bulldogs she moms was sick. But she sure sounds and acts like a narcissist to me. (And, yes, I did look through some of her TikToks.)

Anyway, technically there may not be all that many narcissists out there than there used to be, but it sure seems as if there are. 

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Image Source: Turning Leaf Therapy (Ur Source for Image: Caravaggio)