What My Selfies Say About Me
When I take selfies, I rarely think about how it is going to portray my ethnicity, socioeconomic status, or my sexuality. As a group, I think my selfies show that I am just a college aged girl who likes to experience new things and explore. However, even without thinking about my socioeconomic status when I am taking my selfies, I can see how it can be portrayed. The fact that I have pictures of me in a NYC apartment, in a beach town, and on a trip to Israel, I could see that portraying part of my socioeconomic status unintentionally.
As you can tell, when I take a selfie, I rarely show my teeth. When I smile for a picture that someone is taking of me, or of me and my friends, I always normally smile with my teeth. I have just found that when the camera is that closer to my face, at the angle I take the picture, it just looks a lot more flattering that way, which I have discovered over the years. I also never take a selfie just because I like my outfit or the way I look (unless I get my hair done or something like that). Most of the selfies I take never make it to the internet, and most of the selfies I do take are then just saved for me to look back on memories I had.
When I take a selfie which I intend on posting, I pay attention to what is in the background pretty carefully. I make sure that it does not look messy, and just overall make sure there is nothing I wouldn’t want anyone to see. This is a way that I construct meaning and form my digital identity by making it seem like I put thought into it. If I am not going to post the selfie anywhere, I really don’t care if the lighting is good, or if the angle is good. But when I put a picture out into the permanent internet, I want to make sure I am putting my best self out there.
In two of my pictures, there are other people in the picture with me. By having other people in the selfie, and having them look engaged, could contribute to my identity by showing that I have friends that have genuine interest in being in a picture with me, and that they are not just random people.
I think the identity trait that my pictures show is that I am generally a happy person. I am doing the “soft smile” in every picture, showing that I am happy to be where I am and wanted to show off what I am doing. Other than that, my selfies that I have chosen do not really some trait more than the other. However, in the last picture of me about to go to the NYC Pride parade, viewers would get the sense that I like to have fun, and that I support the LGBT community by attending this parade, and showing that I want people to know I attended. However, I do not think that just glancing at these pictures with no context of where I am and who I am with is not telling to my true personality.
When I post a selfie, I never do it right away (unless on snapchat). If I were to post a picture to Facebook or Instagram, I would wait to post it to make sure it is the picture I want to post, and not just impulsively post a picture for the sake of posting one. Overall, I take my selfies to create memories whether I am with people or not, and pictures are a great way to do that.
