‘Selfie’-love: too much?

How many ‘selfies’ have you taken? Chances are you’ve taken at least one. Even Darth Vader posted one. If you’re one of the rare individuals who hasn’t, you are now an anomaly.

With the addition of “selfie” to the online Oxford English Dictionarythis year, it’s something that’s become a part of our culture. 

We’ve increasingly become an image conscious world, where people feel the need to post a picture of what they look like today and every day on social media.

It seems to be a cry for attention, a “look at me and my cute outfit today,” or “look how much fun I’m having at the bar.” Does it make you feel popular to see how many “likes” your photo gets? Or are you fishing for compliments to satisfy some loneliness inside? I’m not completely against photos with friends out together having a good time, just does it have to every single freaking time?

When did society become so vain? I’m not saying I’ve never been guilty of this, although I can say the number of pictures I’ve taken of myself are in the single digits. And every time, it made me feel unnatural and fake.

 Dirty bathroom images disgust me the most. I don’t want to see how hot you think you look in the mirror with your box of tampons sitting on the bathroom counter.

Photos used to be about creating memories and if you want to remember how you looked every day, then I guess you’ll have a huge Facebook photo album full of yourself.

The latest trend to get people fired up is funeral ‘selfies.’ 

Yes, FUNERAL.  Gathered together on a Tumblr blog called “Selfies at Funerals” is a collection of Instagram, Twitter and Facebook  ‘selfies’ posted by teens in their funeral attire. There’s plenty of duck-face and fake pouting. In one case, a casket with a dead relative can be seen in the background.

The captions read things like “Cried off all my make-up so ew. But funeral,” and “Love my hair today. Hate why I’m dressed up #funeral.”

The blog creator, Jason Feifer, says that he created it to make people laugh but he also understands how the subject matter can hit a nerve. He speculates that perhaps posting selfies at funerals is a way for the younger generation to express their grief and share it with their friends.

With a smartphone and social media obsession, perhaps it is the way that youth of today feel most connected to their friends.I personally grew up in a generation where one face-to-face conversation and a genuine hug means more than 54 Facebook likes on a photo.

I learned that my beautiful grandmother died from reading a status on Facebook.  I wish I hadn’t learned that way, but there’s nothing that can change that now. While I don’t completely blame the poster, I do blame this societal urge that keeps people obsessed with posting everything on social media. Please remember that even with social media, there can be a very real human impact.

 

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