Ah… the “selfie.” I have mixed feelings, don’t you? Or is this form of visual indulgence no big deal, utterly harmless, and just one more shorthand communication in our digital age?
Must we conclude that our selfie-littered online landscape is the result of vanity, superficial self-absorption, or yet another expression of cultural narcissism?
Writer Jenna Wortham suggests we reconsider our knee-jerk response to these momentary glimpses of who we are and what they may mean, particularly in light of their self-portrait predecessors.
In “My Selfie, Myself,” Ms. Wortham explains these outward-inward photographs as:
… a way of trying to understand how people see you, who you are and what you look like, and there’s nothing wrong with that…
Sounds logical, no?
Reflections in the Mirror, Snapped
At what point do a few selfies cross the line between viewing ourselves as others do and narcissism? Is it a matter of degree or context? Don’t most of us ponder ourselves in the mirror at points in time, and even take a selfie to examine more closely?
Adolescents stare at themselves in part to sync up a rapidly changing exterior with an interior that may be lagging behind – or vice versa. Of course, staring in the mirror to figure yourself out, or to process (and accept) what you see, or to imagine what others see – is hardly confined to the 15-year old crowd. Don’t we scrutinize after gaining or losing weight, or as we age – considering the improvements or surveying “the damage?”
And we may well snap a selfie in the mirror while we’re at it.
Then again, those images are generally a private matter, not documentation for public consumption, or curating reflections on perception and reality for a specific purpose.
Public Versus Private
What may trouble some of us is the public nature of this process, issues of propriety – granted, a judgment call – and the seemingly indiscriminate proliferation of our likenesses, thanks to the Internet.
And as parents, we have reason to worry at times, though the very magnitude of the situation makes crossing the (propriety) line more common, begging the question of “moving” the line.
Yet I wonder if all these images desensitize us to what was once private and more introspective. Is that desensitization potentially a good thing? Does it allow us to see the silliness from teenagers all over the world – and thus how alike we may be? Would it encourage us to appreciate that families cherish their outings together, and capturing the moments is common across cultures?
Might we be enhancing or expanding communication? Or is the very nature of the massive number of selfies, the speed with which they seem almost to reproduce, and our tendency to glance, laugh, and move on quickly encouraging us not to absorb the impact of the image at all?
Why Do People Take Selfies?
If the reasons for selfies are more varied than we think – communication, a sort of storytelling, and narcissism as well – do life stages come into play? What about life events?
Personally, I don’t have a need for a closeup of my face in an unflattering light. I’d rather set up a tripod at a respectable distance, thank you very much.
On the other hand, when I was younger and again after divorce, I used selfies (via camera) to place myself in context and observe. In fact, I came across two photographs of 19-year-old “moi” during the period I lived in Paris as a student. Clearly selfies, these snapshots showcase various (ridiculous) makeup looks, as I hoped to see what others might – an important undertaking as I couldn’t get a date to save my life!
After divorce, I used pictures of myself to build confidence after a long hiatus from the dating world, not to mention, adjusting my self-image after shedding weight. One digital camera with a delay button, eh voilà – I possessed the means to see my face as a man might, my trimmer figure, and to reacquaint myself with, well… myself. My selfies, myself, indeed.
Self-Portrait: A Picture’s Worth 1,000 Words
While I may not take many self-portraits, I watched with fascination as my artist-son drew his own face from the time he was six years old. These sketches and paintings were especially painful to see during a difficult divorce, and in the first few years that followed. As he didn’t talk about his feelings, there’s no question that the visuals were telling a story – his story – that he was unable to express in words.
I was grateful for this glimpse inside his emotional universe, and relieved when the scowl gave way to the grin. This leads me to consider this: Haven’t artists always poked through their interiors using self-portraiture? Doesn’t the writer do the same, by use of diction and metaphor and character, not to mention other tricks of the trade?
When we arrange images into a collection chronologically or thematically, surely they relate a story. Why not the selfie as psychological and physical guide post, and possibly, art?
Selfies Tell Our Stories, And More
Over time, if selfies tell our stories, is Ms. Wortham right that we ought to stop selling the selfie short?
Ms. Wortham notes:
We are swiftly becoming accustomed to — and perhaps even starting to prefer — online conversations and interactions that revolve around images and photos.
Is the real danger the extent to which we rely on photos as the main event, and weaken the discipline of language to articulate our message?
Sure, we may have vacation snaps taken with the camera held at arm’s length, a few photo booth strips tucked under old letters in a sock drawer, and a series of romantic Polaroids from “back in the day” with a lover or spouse. I can certainly imagine selfies that comprise more than “I was here,” executed in artistic (and entertaining) fashion. But are these the exceptions, at least when you consider the millions of images shot daily, thoughtlessly, in haste and then shared? Then again, does it matter?
I’m more open-minded on the subject after reading Ms. Wortham’s article, but for me, the jury is still out.
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I teach high school and I watch girls do this all day long….I think I have seen just about every known pose!. Somehow watching them “pose” endlessly in front of their phones keeps away my desire for myself. Since I join fashion bloggers in outfit- of- the- day posts, I have no desire to add the selfie to the mix. One daily out of my comfort zone picture is enough, and somehow I really do not want to go back to the hallways of high school!!
I take tons of selfies to send to my lovah who lives very far away and often requests pics. I never ever publish them anywhere. It goes like this: Damn, I look good today. I’ll take a pic and send it to him. I take the pic and it looks nothing like I thought I looked. I look old and have a waddle and one eye is squinty and I can see my pores and have lipstick on my teeth. I immediately destroy. He has to rely on his memory.
Very special Selfie Usage, Cuckoo Momma. 😉 And I’m with you on the destruction of all less-than-spiffy images.
Oh but I think we have to embrace the selfies of today – because I look back at pictures of myself in my twenties, thirties, forties, when i might have thought I looked bad or fat or frumpy and realize I was so young. We’ll be in our 60s, 70s and god willing 80s and 90s some day and think the 50s looked so charming.
How interesting to have observed your son’s art as he’s moved through different phases – especially because they were self portraits. Hmmmm.
When he is doing something special, my son often takes a selfie (of himself or himself and whomever he is with) and sends it to me with text, and they invariably give me a wonderful peek into his world as it is at that very recent moment. Since he lives in New York City, I need those selfies, as well as his other photographs, texts, emails, telephone conversations and several visits each year, to feel like I’m sharing the life he is living. Fortunately, the selfies have not replaced any of, and beautifully complement, the other forms of communication. If, however, I was with someone who was constantly taking selfies, I would tire of those interruptions to what we were doing just as I would to the interruptions of constant cell phone calls or texts.