The definition as being relayed from the article doesn’t meet any of the classical narcissism definitions so I think you’re right. Someone awhile ago came up with a cool name for a new definition of something (‘group narcissism’), and since calling people you don’t like narcissist seems en Vogue this year, here we are.

Also, narcissism - as in the actually identifiable pathology, has a number of falsifiable elements (as much as one can get in psychology anyway, which isn’t much) which this theory doesn’t really have.

So it’s basically horoscoping.

Also, good luck trying to clearly define society wide pathology in a credible way.

Narcissistic behaviors are not unusual or always bad (kids need it for example), but many times in adults they manifest as a means to offload the work from the pain they are experiencing based on their own judgments, of themselves. When cornered, some may freely admit this as they can easily pin it on you later if you aren’t paying attention.

Sounds like adult immaturity.

It is a type of emotional regulation offloading. Which can be considered that way. Adult immaturity does tend to be highly correlated with it in my experience, but I’m no psychologist.

> normal variation of human personality?

We can’t exclude the possibility that phones are extremely rapidly (<8 years) transforming human traits.

In parallel, I’m seeing the emergence of a new layer of “bogan millionaires” (that I’m part of): People who shouldn’t reach there so fast, but did it anyway through apps, instagram, stock exchange or bitcoins. There are so many of us that it’s a real danger (or a real chance), it feels like undeserved power for people who didn’t struggle enough to know what a few million dollars really is. It is mostly due to the decentralization of power brought by the internet, but moving masses from learned inability to having some power, while leaving the rest of the population (the good old workers who kept at his work diligently) in the ditch… It may change the face of humanity.

What's the difference between the "Bogan millionaires" now and the "nouveau riche" of the train barons, telecom barons, wall street millionaires, movie millionaires, textile tycoons, etc. when they were trying to prove themselves to the old monied peoples who brought their spoils from the "old country" or previous generations? It just sounds like a new term for the same unnecessary guilt complex.