I’m not a “selfie hater” because I do not support people
being confident and beautiful… I simply believe that in this age of social
sharing, they are overused. The vast majority of the selfies I see are just as
over-posed and over-primped as the girls in this video describe. And, most of
the time, the images I see are of the same people’s faces in the same places
with the same expressions, multiple times a week. I have seen that some people
use selfies to hide their bodies (this goes all the way back to MySpace), which
goes against the exact premise of this video. When they’re overdone, especially
in this fashion, I believe selfies inherently demonstrate a state of narcissism
– not confidence and self-acceptance – that social media helps propagate.
I also think that selfies further the incessant need to
share every moment of our days. They are the visual representation of the
over-sharing status update, the photographic equivalent of the
let-me-tell-you-what-I-had-for-breakfast-lunch-and-dinner-in-real-time quibble
that no one truly needs to hear.
In addition, I believe that selfies encourage the growing
problem of smartphone and social-media induced isolation while in public. I
cannot tell you how often I see people taking selfies in public. Maybe they’re
really documenting a great moment in life and I should not pass judgment. But,
I have to believe that, based on what I see in my own social channels, these
self-photographers are more often than not missing out on what’s around them in
favor of their personal portrait. I think if we all put down our phones for a
week, we’d realize how much is happening around us that we do not see. I’m
guilty of this myself, but that’s another rant for another day….
Last, I have seen an increasing number of people using
selfies when a real photo would be great! If a friend is nearby and offers to
take a picture of you in front of a beautiful landscape – take them up on it!
Or, ask a stranger to snap the milestone moment when you finally get to see the
Eiffel Tower. Later in life, you’ll appreciate the picture of the
moment/landmark AND your smiling face, not the 10 percent of whatever it is
that managed to sneak in the frame. Don’t get me wrong, I, along with
everyone’s friends and family, LOVE to see the smiling faces of those I know –
but not the same pose day in and day out in front of a background I can’t
decipher. Or – better yet – absorb the
moment, take it in and remember it in your head. We don’t need to snap a cell
phone photo of everything.
Now, I will admit that sometimes, selfies can be fun – I
think of the picture of my sister, my cousin and I during the half-marathon in Akron,
for example. Or even the one my friends and I took before a race last winter
– both of these capture the energy and excitement of that moment in time, which
cannot be conveyed in a posed photograph taken by a stranger. And that’s
completely fine. I support that. But, like anything else that is overused, the
selfie has been misused and abused… and that I can’t support.
