I’m a post Narcissist. I don’t know how frequent that is, and only one person at FHI told me they were an email Narcissus, but maybe there are others, and more importantly, maybe there is a solution. It may not be clear to you what post Narcissism is, if so, throw your arms up in the air, and scream “Victory!” because you just escaped a terrible thing...
Post Narcissism: An absolutely intense eagerness to read your own posts and comments after you wrote them, accompanied by a feeling of flow while doing so, even when you would do much better to just read someone else’s post or do something else altogether. Sometimes, but now always, accompanied by a low anxiety that something may be wrong with your writing, and intermittent thoughts about whether it needs changes. Just to set an arbitrary definitional threshold, if you read it three times after posting, you definitely have it.
Don’t care about actual mirrors. Don’t care about making enemies while self-actualizing, don’t care wearing beautiful clothing or showing off whatever physical ability I may have to show off… Don’t care about mentioning what makes me shy, or things I’m absolutely terrible at, but oh, the fuzzy feeling inside when reading a set of words that I know is open to public scrutiny. Gets my attention more than Orangutangs, South Park or family members, more than latest Google scholar new publications updates on Philosophy of Mind. More than the weather, an impending deadline or a self imposed rule.
I know that others must suffer from this condition as I do. And maybe there is a solution… If you don’t know a solution, post suggestions, if you do know a solution that has worked, please post it.
I do this, and still wind up only regretting what I wrote after someone’s pointed out a huge flaw with it. (Oddly, people tell me not to stress about saying things just right. Since I still screw up on a semi-frequent basis, worrying about it apparently isn’t that helpful. )
I do this. I don’t regard it as an issue, however; I’m looking for faults, but as a result my writing has steadily improved over the past few years; it’s part of the reason I no longer write using Old English grammar.
Time loss due to excessive interest in reading something just because it is one’s own creation, to the point where one doesn’t think it is good anymore.
That would only be a good solution if I was writing for my own delight, and angry about the delight when it actually happened.
Most people write so that other people read what they wrote (I think). This is how I write academic or magazine articles, what I did with my book, and what happens to video content I post anywhere. But doesn’t happen with posts and comments, those somehow require me to go back and read them, sometimes up to 10 times. Cyan and Komponisto seemed to have the same problem.
Does anyone have a solution to Post Narcissism?
I do this, and still wind up only regretting what I wrote after someone’s pointed out a huge flaw with it. (Oddly, people tell me not to stress about saying things just right. Since I still screw up on a semi-frequent basis, worrying about it apparently isn’t that helpful. )
I do this. I don’t regard it as an issue, however; I’m looking for faults, but as a result my writing has steadily improved over the past few years; it’s part of the reason I no longer write using Old English grammar.
What exactly is the problem here?
Time loss due to excessive interest in reading something just because it is one’s own creation, to the point where one doesn’t think it is good anymore.
Stop writing?
That would only be a good solution if I was writing for my own delight, and angry about the delight when it actually happened. Most people write so that other people read what they wrote (I think). This is how I write academic or magazine articles, what I did with my book, and what happens to video content I post anywhere. But doesn’t happen with posts and comments, those somehow require me to go back and read them, sometimes up to 10 times. Cyan and Komponisto seemed to have the same problem.