It’s easy. Flip the camera on your phone so that its forward facing, hold it up high so that it makes your eyes look bigger and your cheekbones more defined. Hold your thumb over the big round button and click. Simple. A selfie.
It was the Oxford English Dictionary’s word of the year in 2013 and it has rapidly become the world’s most predominant craze. Some argue that is shows a rise in confidence amongst young men and women. But is it really about confidence? Or just simply a rise in vanity?
The word selfie really needs no definition. We’ve all done it, on our own or with our friends. Either way, it’s happened and we’re all guilty of it. If there were ever a time where we felt like an attention seeker for posting a selfie onto social media, this feeling is fast receding into the distance. To post a selfie portrays a thousand words. You are pleased with yourself, you like the way that you look, you are happy for the rest of the world to see you in this light, with your head tilted in this way under the X-Pro Filter. Everything that you could never say out loud.
In today’s culture, self-confidence for females is rare and a valuable commodity. So to be able to glorify your good hair days and cute outfits surely is a positive thing, right? Sure. But only to a certain extent. Selfies encourage an obsession with physical appearance. Taking a photo of yourself and posting it upon social media sites requires no intellect, apart from the occasional pun within the caption. The sad truth of selfies is that even the caption comes with an asterisk. “I like the way I look,” but under a thousand filters with my stomach sucked in and under this tilted camera angle. At 14, does your Mum or Dad know that you’re posting photos of yourself in your underwear and a baggy tee for the rest of the world to feast their eyes on? It’s not a boost in self-confidence, it’s an act of rising vanity. Drawing attention to yourself in provocative natures is not where the concept of a selfie derived from.
An online image is everything these days. Posting a selfie is an empowering act that allows you to control your image online. But your self-esteem may start to be tied to the comments and number of likes that you can receive on each post. Where’s the boost in that? There are people who look upon this selfie generation with huge disappointment- but can you blame them? After all, a selfie teaches males and females alike that you have to look good if you want to show yourself to the world.
Whilst there is a mixed opinion on the elevation of selfies, it really is up to you whether you believe it is lame or legit. Either way, you can change the shape of the future selfie culture. Ask yourself the question of whether selfies are taken for fun and entertainment or whether they are taken in an attempt to get more likes and comments than the last? There may be an element of both, but the latter will always be a big factor in this craze. Everything and anything that you share on social media reveals a small a part about you, and you are in control of it. So it may be that travelling is an interest, or food and drink. Why not post that? Create your online profile and image in more ways than one.
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