The official definition of the word "selfie" is "A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a Smartphone or webcam and shared via social media." It is a phenomenon that has boomed in the last five years among young people; Instagram alone has nearly 175 million pictures tagged with the term "#selfie". The majority of us have proven guilty to taking a snap of ourselves at various events and moments of boredom and sharing it to our followers waiting to double-click and like.
However many of us have developed a dislike towards selfies. The front-camera antics have lead to annoying trends such as the duck-face and the snapback squint which have clogged up news feeds for incessant amounts of time. Others feel that it is a from of narcissism and is just a discrete way of seeking attention and pleading to be liked by the vast audience of the internet. But a few of us step forward and defend the selfie, including PBS Idea Channel who made a video entitled "Why Do People Hate Selfies?" discussing how they interpret the selfie into a snapshot of the present, possibly showing the world who we are and what is going on in our lives: a visual of depiction and explanation.
Ezra Koenig, the lead vocalist of Vampire Weekend, protected the selfie in an interview with Rolling Stone where he said, "There's all this bullshit about 'the younger kids today are more self-absorbed'" and also stated that, "I think that anybody who's anti-selfie is really just a hater. Because, truthfully, why shouldn't people take pictures of themselves?...I could Google image search 'the sky' and I would probably see beautiful images to knock my socks off. But I can't Google, you know, 'What does my friend look like today?' For you to be able to take a picture of yourself that you feel good enough about to share with the world – I think that's a great thing." Which I feel is a valid point, at the end Koenig touches on feeling "good enough" to share a picture of yourself on the worldwide web. Do the selfie takers have a confidence issue which they are addressing?
However many of us have developed a dislike towards selfies. The front-camera antics have lead to annoying trends such as the duck-face and the snapback squint which have clogged up news feeds for incessant amounts of time. Others feel that it is a from of narcissism and is just a discrete way of seeking attention and pleading to be liked by the vast audience of the internet. But a few of us step forward and defend the selfie, including PBS Idea Channel who made a video entitled "Why Do People Hate Selfies?" discussing how they interpret the selfie into a snapshot of the present, possibly showing the world who we are and what is going on in our lives: a visual of depiction and explanation.
Ezra Koenig, the lead vocalist of Vampire Weekend, protected the selfie in an interview with Rolling Stone where he said, "There's all this bullshit about 'the younger kids today are more self-absorbed'" and also stated that, "I think that anybody who's anti-selfie is really just a hater. Because, truthfully, why shouldn't people take pictures of themselves?...I could Google image search 'the sky' and I would probably see beautiful images to knock my socks off. But I can't Google, you know, 'What does my friend look like today?' For you to be able to take a picture of yourself that you feel good enough about to share with the world – I think that's a great thing." Which I feel is a valid point, at the end Koenig touches on feeling "good enough" to share a picture of yourself on the worldwide web. Do the selfie takers have a confidence issue which they are addressing?
Statistics have arisen saying that 7 in 10 school girls feel that they are not good enough in various aspects in life including appearance and that only 5% of high school graduates are said to have high self esteem. These statistics should be seen as shocking and should influence us to work towards improving these figures as low self esteem can lead to mental health problems such as depression and paranoia as well as a general negativity in ourselves in society. I feel that we shouldn't shame people for having the confidence to snap a picture of themselves and post it to the world saying "this is me and you better like it": it promotes healthy self image and supports positivity towards one another. Even though we may look ridiculous at times, we shouldn't feel the need to hide away from it. I think that we should embrace how absurd we are and stick a fantastic filter on top while we're at it.
Sources:
www.themarysue.com/pbs-idea-channel-selfie/
www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ezra-koenig-believe-in-your-selfie-20131122#ixzz3EcagcQQq
www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-teens-and-self-esteem
thejnpproject.com/hot-topics/kids-statistics/
Sources:
www.themarysue.com/pbs-idea-channel-selfie/
www.rollingstone.com/music/news/ezra-koenig-believe-in-your-selfie-20131122#ixzz3EcagcQQq
www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-teens-and-self-esteem
thejnpproject.com/hot-topics/kids-statistics/
