“Selfie.” Scarcely a
day goes by where I don’t hear the word. When I get on social media sites, I am
inundated by selfie culture - selfie pictures, people using the word selfie,
selfie hashtags… The world has become selfie obsessed! I hear the word again
and again on TV, in songs, even in everyday conversation. It’s become a
household term and, I dare say, a nation-wide sensation, this concept of the selfie.
But why?
Now, I have no real problem with people taking pictures of
themselves. With the cultural expectation of having pictures of your face on
the Internet combined with the digital means to take as many pictures as you
want with the capability of instant review and no worry of cost or hassle to
get the pictures developed, I get it. But why are we (the collective societal “we”)
so enamored with the concept? Is it the cute little name we’ve given it: “selfie”?
Or perhaps calling attention to it masks the shame involved for selfie posters,
those who might feel the sting of vanity involved with posting photographs they
obviously took of themselves, but it’s not enough to keep them from showing those photos to their friends and family, so they sort of hide the shame out in the open by
pretending they are just indulging a silly new fad – the selfie craze. Just
some theories…
Surely I can’t be the only one who is dumbfounded by the
cultural obsession, the mass selfie appeal. Right?
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| Oh, well. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. I call this artistic self-portrait "Bathroom Selfie." |
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