A girl next to me at the grocery store the other day had on the cutest yellow dress. She’d braided her hair in an intricate crown around her head and her winged eyeliner was on point. In short, she looked awesome. Four seconds into our wait, she smiled at her phone and snapped a selfie. The guy behind her rolled his eyes and may have even muttered something about the growing narcissism of the “selfie generation.” I mean, I didn’t exactly hear him, but he totally looked grumpy enough.
It’s an observation I’ve heard and read about a lot lately. Some people equate selfies with being vain and narcissistic. Given the way these articles talk about people snapping pictures of their faces all day, it’s easy to see why selfies are associated with the self-absorbed. But people who frown every time they see someone take a picture of themselves are missing the point.
…cries of narcissism lurk in the comments section…
Taking a selfie and sharing it is, first and foremost, an act of self-love. It’s a moment you wanted to preserve, a day you felt confidence in your appearance. Group selfies capture close friendships—quite literally, with everyone crowding to get in frame. Solo selfies capture happiness and self-confidence. Call me crazy, but these sound like feelings worth celebrating.
Posting a selfie on social media is the traditional next step. Here again, cries of narcissism and vanity lurk in the comments section. By sharing a moment in which you felt confident, you pass on a message of confidence to your friends and followers. And don’t stop at your own selfies. Appreciating the beauty that others feel in themselves is just as important. My best friends are gorgeous and live far away: their selfies never fail to brighten my mood. Let the moments when other women felt good inspire you to see beauty in others. It can only lead to seeing beauty in yourself.
Taking a selfie and sharing it is, first and foremost, an act of self-love.
Sharing selfies does more than just give you a confidence boost, though. By papering the Internet with mostly unedited images of women, the selfie trend is the first step in reversing what Photoshopped advertisements have done.
Instead of preying on women’s insecurities, selfies thrive on our confidence. The influx of women feeling good and sharing the feeling with their friends spreads a positive message across a medium traditionally used for body shaming. It’s the first step towards tossing aside Photoshopped beauty ideals and embracing self-confidence instead.
The best way to contribute to the movement is to take genuine selfies in moments when you feel beautiful or happy. Don’t self-objectify by Photoshopping or hyper-sexualizing your selfies to match magazine models. Don’t use selfies to get likes and combat your insecurity. It is possible to go overboard, so make sure that you’re not flooding your Instagram or letting selfie-snapping take over every moment. Instead, make sure that every selfie you take and share is one that celebrates a feeling of happiness, confidence, and love. Enjoying those moments is the first step to building more happiness, confidence, and love in every aspect of your life.
Make sure that every selfie you take and share is one that celebrates a feeling of happiness, confidence, and love.
Selfies are hardly a new trend: people have been getting in front of cameras for a long time (and, before the camera, commissioning portraits of themselves). But never has it been more important. Those who cry “Narcissist!” when they see someone holding their phone out at arm’s length and smiling don’t understand the importance of the movement. It’s more than just the moment you feel cute, though that is the foundation. It’s about spreading self-love and celebrating the beauty in you. What could be more worthwhile than that?
What prompts you to take a selfie and share it?
Social media all social companies have engineered a generation of a self-obsessed narcissist. All social media platforms are comprised of a mass of individual competing against each other for followers, likes, retweets, favorites and whichever another show of approval exists out there than any sort of collective goal.
People need to stop using the term narcissism when they really should be saying is vanity. Narcissism is way more complex than just some girls taking selfies because they are overly obsessed with their image.
If 100 years ago smartphones would have been invented people would make selfie constantly it’s human nature to out yourself individually and make yourself feel like you’re important just because people couldn’t do that before doesn’t mean they wouldn’t do it if they had the chance.
Young people can get caught up in how they’re portrayed on social media, seeking affirmation from others in the form of likes and retweets. Relying too heavily on this as a means of boosting self-esteem will inevitably lead to unhappiness and low self-confidence when they’re not getting as much praise and approval online as they’d like.
People are more artistic and engaged than they used to be. As a former artist, I’m delighted that selfies help “normal” people get involved in the act of creation.
Humans are hard-wired to look at faces and to delight in receiving feedback for it. It does serve to build self-esteem because it encourages growth, and it helps us to achieve more if we simply embrace it for what it is. We’re all social animals, so communicating and sharing helps us all be better connected! And that’s always a good thing.
We’re all part of a “look at me” culture, wanting to be liked, and admired, and accepted by others. It’s okay to have fun with these apps, with a perspective of course, because it’s what makes us human, after all. That need to reach out to our peers, and connect us to communicate, and to show ourselves to those in our world with similar likes and interests.
You’re right there is nothing wrong with taking selfies. There is, however, something wrong with taking hundreds, or in the Snapchat user’s case thousands.
When I was a kid in the 90’s you would be laughed at for taking a picture of yourself. Back then it either meant you’re a narcissist or you had no friends or perhaps both. It’s a strange cultural shift and a lot of young people say, “oh well its changed because now everyone has a camera on their personal phone”. That’s not true. Many people carried cameras, especially young girls.
Let’s just let people be. Selfies are everyone’s way of expressing themselves. There’s no point in saying anything negative. If you hate seeing the face of that person, then unfollow them. It’s that simple.