dr. larry rosen from cal state has just presented a paper which suggests that teenagers who use facebook can become narcissists which is odd because i thought all teenagers were narcissists. but he says facebook encourages teenagers to think that they can publish anything about themselves. well, yeah, they do. rosen also says facebook affects all users, young and old, by giving us stomachaches, sleeplessness, anxiety and depression. but i think it also lets us keep up with our friends. and our friends become more important as we get older–
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lawrence yolles, f2fb #189, is also, oddly enough, friends with my son eastman because they both are into drumming. lawrence buys and sells drums. eastman plays them (and gets his mom to buy them!). they share posts and comments about favorite bands and equipment. that’s a nice friendship–lawrence and eastman–that wouldn’t exist between the teenaged narcissist and the sleepless stomachache anxiety ridden depressionate fortysomething if it weren’t for facebook.
you can read all of dr. rosen’s article in the los angeles times–
i think a better thing to do is read christopher lasch’s culture of narcissism about how we are cocooning ourselves with a constant need for validation. maybe lasch figured out a lot about facebook before it showed up.
speaking of narcissism, this morning i am doing a photo shoot. the chicago tribune is planning an article on my f2fb new year’s resolution of meeting all my facebook friends in the course of a year. they want a picture of me. here is my advice for looking good in pictures that will be published:
1. call giselle bundchen and ask her to fill in for you
2. apply a lot of makeup. then yell “barnum!” and take off all the makeup. your skin will be bright pink. hives, anaphylactic shock, loss of a skin layer? you decide.
3. look up. those wrinkles around your eyes and on your neck won’t be so visible. but look down your nose because you don’t want to bump into anything.
4. call giselle again. be more persuasive. offer to babysit so that she and tom brady can have a night out. oh, right, they already have nannies.
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That’s SO cool! Chicago Tribune!! You’ll have to let us know when and what section. I’ll pay their prices to get an actual copy of that article.
it’s supposed to be in the upcoming sunday tribune magaznie. either that or the sunday after that. assuming no other major news breaks! hey, i’ll be out again in naperville soon. must have manicure pedicure and get that girlie side out of us! much love!