Contemporary Connections: StoryCorps and the Narcissism Epidemic

In class, many students expressed how much they liked the stories presented through StoryCorps, which made me want to understand what made so many of us like these stories. Why does it work?

Way back when, oral storytelling spread the words of brave soldiers, cruel kings, and heroes who saved the day; these stories told the life stories of extraordinary people. People have always had an interest in other people’s life stories. Today, anyone can tell their stories online through social media and anyone can be seen. The Internet has brought us out of anonymity – from having a limited number of acquaintances to have the world as our playground. The whole technological society has definitely changed the way we tell stories, and I think StoryCorps fits right into this change.

Now when “anyone” (with a working Internet connection) can express themselves, I think this has changed who we think is worth listening to. We have learned that regular individuals hide great stories within. The best storytellers no longer have to live in our own village, but he or she can be any individual online.

That everyone tells their life stories is where the discussion of our contemporary society starts. Some people have chosen to describe the times we live in as “the Narcissism Epidemic”, as well as naming our generation “The Self(ie) Generation” and “Generation Ego” – since everyone has something to say and we all want to tell our stories. The grassroots movement of us million individuals who are spending hours per day on social media – fighting to tell the world our own stories – is quite impressive. Internet makes us leave any form of a mass society behind and lead us towards a more individualistic one – and I think that this contemporary and individualistic society can explain why we students tend to appreciate the individualistic touch of StoryCorps. I connect StoryCorps success to other individualistic winds in our contemporary society. That is what we are used to!

I think a great example where these new times can be seen, in addition to StoryCorps, is discussed in the article about Coca-Cola’s recent and very successful name campaign. After many years of decreasing numbers of sale, the Coca-Cola Company launched the name campaign, and increased their sale with 2.5 %. The reason to this, according to the article, is the simple fact that consumers enjoy to see their individual names on branded products, enough to buy the product and share it online. This might be the ultimate sign that we live in a narcissistic era.

However, I do think we always have been interested in other people’s lives stories, even way back before technological help. The Internet with social media, discussion forums, and of course Story Corps has just opened up that world to us. In the narcissism epidemic we live in we love to share our personal stories as often as we can, but our constant thirst and interest for other persons´ stories go further back than that. We want to share and we want to explore the pieces which build up the world, not just the whole world itself. I really think that the format of StoryCorps, the individualistic agenda and the personal stories, attract us and say a whole lot about our contemporary, in some ways narcissistic, world. 

Article explaining the Coca Cola Company's successful name campaign.