The Selfie
Make sure you look good. Make sure the lighting is right. Be in a notable or hip place. Maybe add in a nice filter. Maybe some cartoon dog ears. Have a good caption. Make sure friends like and comment. Most of all, make sure you take them! … The Selfie.
Photography in general is capturing a moment in the present. In order to capture a picture there must be a subject, setting, and some artistic quality. Basically, you need something to take a picture of. Cameras are now always available and in the palm of your hand. You can take pictures of the places you go, the people you are with, or of the activities you are doing. And what is more available than yourself? You’re always around, you have a front facing camera, and you are constantly in different settings. You can even buy the awe-inspiring “Selfie Stick” for achieving optimal angles. What more can you ask for?

People all over are snapping pictures of everything they encounter. And it is quite clear that there is no shortage of self promotional picture taking in the world today. Social media allows for you to snap yourself and share that picture with all who follow you, thus receiving their reactions to that picture. When taking pictures of yourself, you are basically asking for reaffirmation of the quality of how you look. Likes and comments are treated as compliments, self affirmation, and judgement.
I am playing Devil’s advocate here in regards to society’s seemingly unconditional love for the selfie. But this constant capturing and posting of yourself cannot be one of the most humbling of activities, and may in fact be creating a normalcy of narcissism.
This last weekend I was sitting by a hotel pool and was watching a young mother and her baby take selfies for about 15 minutes. The mother was adding snapchat filters and various stickers to their faces and seeing how her daughter reacted. At first I found this amusing and kind of light-hearted. But then my more critical side set in.
I was sitting there thinking about how taking those pictures were affecting the baby. According to the mirror test, babies do not regularly recognize themselves until there about 18 months old. They do not have self awareness before this point and when seeing themselves in the mirror, reach to the mirror as if it were another person.
So, this baby I was watching was probably around 2 years old; therefore, had a conscious and developing sense of self awareness. What was all this self photography causing within this child? Before the selfie was a thing, seeing pictures of yourself was not so commonplace, but now people of all ages have this ability frequently and normally.
Being exposed from an early age to feel the normalcy with seeing and recording yourself seems to me like it may cause some changes in development, mainly in regards to self awareness and narcissism. Many people are taking selfies and looking for “positive results.” But is this what we really should be looking for approval or self affirmation? There is too much of a focus on ourselves, but people my age (22) and over didn’t even have this as children. What will this change in the development of generations to come?
