Selfie-sh by: Irissa Kai written: 2016
Let’s talk about selfies. We all have a gazillion of them on our phones and scattered them all over our social media accounts. We love it. I love it. But what’s this talk of selfies creating the next generation of narcissists? Let’s digress for a minute and find out its meaning. narcissism: the pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one's own attributes This term originated from Greek mythology, where the young Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. While it has inevitably led to increased interest and admiration in one’s appearance, to make a sweeping generalization of what selfies will do to people - is presumptuous. It is easy and trendy to slam something we find foreign. It's 2016. 9 out of 10 Singaporeans own smartphones and more often than not, there’s a camera function. This means that for the first time in a long time, anyone and everyone can post themselves as they see fit without help. In retrospect, we would have to ask a friend or even a stranger to snap a photograph. The way I see it is that selfies have helped empower individuals to capture their beauty from their own perspective and present themselves how they want to be seen without the need for a male-dominant industry aka Hollywood to portray how they want the girls to be seen. Another thing made possible in this New Age is the ability for people that can’t make it in the industries to turn to social media. Youtube, Soundcloud, Instagram have seen the birth of extraordinary people emerging from the dust. The beauty of it is that there is no space for discrimination. With that, anyone, be it the colour of their skin, gender, appearance, can now thrive online within their comfort. Bottom line, we can assume that a selfie is a simple way of showcasing that he/she/they are acknowledging that they feel good in their skin. So good that they just had to share it with the world. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. There has also been the uprisal of social media hashtag campaigns such as ‘bodyposi’ and Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ which emphasizes that every woman out there is beautiful. Not average, but beautiful. Writer Lindsay-King Miller for Bitch online magazine said ‘While I’m in favour of encouraging women to feel confident and happy, I worry that today’s body positivity focuses too much on affirming beauty and not enough deconstructing its necessity.’
This message has spread like wildfire, but assuring us that everyone is beautiful only reinforces the underlying assumption that beauty matters. (p.s. it does not) Physical appearances do not and will never determine our worth. Not everyone in the world wants to look a certain way to redeem themselves in society. Instead of trying to fix the ‘problem’ (us), why can’t we just move beyond it? You know, forget the whole beauty thing even exists. That said, one respectfully dissents from these ideas as to all things, there has to be the good and the bad. Selfies can be particularly damaging to an individual that has yet to comprehend the inner workings of online representation. The self-destruction of one’s self was explicitly seen when Essena O’Neill, a former Youtuber and Instagram model, decided to upload an ‘exposé’ behind the sham that is social media. The 20-minute long rant evoked certain emotions from its audience; mainly that of disgust, hate, and revelation. Long story short, she revealed the way she represented herself on her social media platforms were a complete and utter lie. The sole motivation for doing so was for her sponsors and of course, the fans. If she was smiling in a picture, she wasn’t really that happy. If she was promoting a product, she was only obliged to do so. Even her selfies were not taken the traditional way, where she was in control of how she would look in the photograph. Evidently, this leads to a misguided path and Clearly, she was unhappy with how she turned out to appear in everyone else’s eyes. That is then how your selfies will be the death of you. While valid, these incidents are a rarity. Most individuals who thrive on social media for a living do it with genuine intentions and the pure joy they get from sharing their life with the world. It’s important we do not confuse narcissism with self-confidence. It is so very important we have self-love for ourselves. And what better to show it through a selfie?