Smile of the Societal Selfie
By Jonathan Lam on 01/21/16
Tagged: the-homework-life the-homework-life-opinion
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Summary of Article: The selfie, an exploding phenomenon of the last few years, serves not only as a "modern self-portrait," but also as a modern form of documentation that encompasses self-expression as well as society in general.
My Response: (in response to a prompt about selfies and their connection to self-portraits) This article agrees that selfies are, indeed, "a modern variant of artist's self-portraits" (quoted from Campbell, Today.com). Like a self-portrait, it allows the photographer an easy means to "the power to change that self-portrait" (Suler) through any of many modern means in order to create the "selective self-presentation" (Tierney) that we so often pursue. And, also similar to the self-portrait, selfies often generate a positive feedback loop that encourages people to post more and more selfies — this is important in the "+2166% increase in searches for the term 'selfie' ... [and] the over 230 million selfies" (Tierney). However, the article also mentions the social aspect of selfie-sharing, being so closely tied-in with social media, because (emphasis mine) "there's a spontaneous and intimate quality to selfies that has changed the way we document, share, and remember events." Selfies are more than self-portraits because, in addition to the main subject of the "self," they allow for the setting — the concepts of the group (i.e., friends and others) and background (i.e., the event). This is significant because it links again back to the idea of the "self-object" (Suler) that allows to view ourselves from an outside perspective. In this larger context that selfies easily provide, this livens the experience and conveniently places us in a larger sense of surroundings so that the subject of the selfie can better see their place in their surroundings and "'sense' the thoughts, memories, and emotions of their identities" (Suler) from the photo, which therefore allows for the therapeudic effect to come easier.
I found it extremely interesting what this article implies about selfies. I personally have a very limited experience with selfies, and I've tried my best to reject them from my life (and many social media such as SnapChat), but I noticed that our society has undeniably changed. I was being left behind because of this social movement. What I didn't realize was that this was the new face of my generation, of the 21st century: us tech-savvy generation z-ers were turning into a narcisstic world of egostistical teenagers! However, I didn't realize until now what the positive implications of this could be: it helps expand and improve our personality, both as the individual and as a society. We look up to selfies, not only because we enjoy staring at others' faces; they subconsciously help us for the better. I agree with the article that it becomes a part of us and our history: we use it to save and share our life to others, and it has the ability to expand us, not as I had previously imagined.