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?
Helmut Newton set up a selfie mirror for models to take their own photos. I’m looking forward to the selfie eye implants like on Black Mirror.
It stands to reason that most artists of yesteryear only occasionally did self-portraits. But many more worked themselves into the canvas.
psychologists have declassified this and it is no longer a illness, it was a false concept to begin with.
Before smart phones, I went around some parts of Europe with a small digital camera taking selfies in places I visited. If I wanted photos of the places themselves there are plenty of better photos. Point is, I wanted pictures of myself. Nothing wrong with selfies. “Selfie culture” I’d argue doesn’t exist. The mass number of selfies on the net are a symptom of people wanting more self awareness. You don’t have to be in love with yourself to want to take pictures of yourself.
I rarely post or even take selfies. I do not need validation by social media to know my value.
It makes many women in approachable in my experience. Sure love thyself. I believe in that all the way. But idolizing yourself to a point where I question if u could love another person is where the problem lies.
The WORST proponents of selfies are younger males teens to mid 20s. They’re OBSESSED with themselves. Their looks. It’s like the spirit of a narcissistic girl in the body of a totally shaved, body image obsessed male. The men are turning into figurative women and women are turning into the average man. Look at all the body art (tattoos) young men get – all over their arms and torsos. Wearing tight clothes and perfectly groomed with diamond ear studs. WTH is going on?! It’s the twilight zone! Really – it’s painful to witness this happening so fast. And these guys are supposedly ‘straight’. EMPHASIS on ‘supposedly’ and ‘guys’.
Being vain is a form of being sick and I do not like it.Many of these people need to feel liked by unknown followers.
Vanity & narcissism aside…It is the epitome of weakness to need constant validation. Children need it & rightly so but if adult humans require daily we can deduce that they are overgrown children. It’s time for them to grow up. No more validation people, you’re furthering the problem.
I have noticed this for a while now. Men take substantially less pictures of themselves. Maybe because they don’t attract mates, they just go after them. Pictures only serve me in that quest as a means to know who likes me and it’s been a pretty accurate tool for that purpose. Most women that I choose to go after that have at some point liked my pictures I tend to succeed in getting. Also those who decide to comment on silly irrelevant posts that I publish can also be good choices. I have this girl on my fb who uploads lots of selfies but I don’t like them even though I do like how she looks, I don’t want to contribute to her ego.