Accepting the Selfie Culture
Using a glitch art as a medium, I created a short series of images that reflect the idea that the Millennials are indeed the Selfie Generation. That label tends to have a negative connotation and is typically used by people trying to shame our “narcissistic” love of selfie-taking. While it’s true that our obsession with Instagram, Snapchat, and other picture sharing medias surpasses that of our preceding generations, the notion that it’s creating a self-absorbed disconnect is essentially flawed. The constant flow of images that are shared amongst friends, family, and strangers is more a testament to our desire to connect rather than a cry for validation and praise. While our focus does sometimes shift to a fixation on the number of likes we receive, the underlying approach is motivated by the idea that sharing our favorite moments, looks, outfits, and meals is a self-satisfying phenomenon, and the accompanying “validation and praise” manifested by likes and shares is only a secondary factor. We feel good when we post something that we find aesthetically appealing, funny, or heartfelt, and other people’s support of it is just the cherry on top.
In order to demonstrate my view of the Selfie Generation, I used three selfies I had taken over the past year and glitched them by removing several chunks of the code in order to create disjointed and warped images. This removal parallels the preceding generations’ notion that we are removing ourselves from reality by becoming absorbed in our images. They believe that we are solely fixated on validation through likes and creating a false depiction of our lives. However, always posting the nicest pictures that capture the happiest or most fun moments isn’t deception; it’s selection. Why would we post something that purposefully portrays our situations or us in a negative or unflattering light? Some may see it as hiding or over-editing the truth, but that’s a function we utilize even outside of the digital world. No one willingly puts all his or her dirty laundry out on display; we present ourselves in the way we want to be perceived. The picture and selfie-sharing realm is just an addendum to that.
In her article “Generation selfie: Has posing, pouting and posting turned us all into narcissists?” from The Telgraph, Anna Hart includes testimony from psychologist Dr. Kelly McGonigal that supports this idea. “Being overly concerned about pictures of yourself doesn’t make you a narcissist,” says Dr. McGonigal. “It’s entirely normal, and from a survival perspective helpful, to be obsessed with gossip about yourself, pictures of yourself or responses to you online. Such status anxiety is part and parcel of being in a society. [We] are interested in what friends and family are doing, saying, thinking and feeling — particularly if it’s a response to us. This is how we establish our place in society, how we form supportive relationships with like-minded people.”
My intention was to showcase the normalcy of selfies and selfie culture. It may not be a necessity for enhancing our lives, but I certainly don’t believe it’s detracting from them either. Selfies, whether they are shared on Snapchat, Instagram, Facebook, Tumblr, Flickr, or any other social media platform, are just another way to connect with people.
