Selfie Madness: A Growing Trend

Photo: kineo.com

Australia’s kindness and magnanimity to the world has no limit. After giving the world the Dual flush toilet and the Cask wine, they also take credit for the term “selfie”.

“The earliest evidence that we know of at the moment is Australian and it fits in with a tendency in Australian English cute, slangy words with ‘ie’ ending” Katherine Martin.

Selfie is the catchall term for the digital self-portrait aided by the use of cell phone camera. The general motivation for taking selfies is to post them online for people to see, like and comment on. Most times the people that post a selfie, eagerly await the likes and comments from friends and strangers. It’s not uncommon for people to stick around for a few minutes and occasionally refresh their pages, to see if the comments and likes have started piling up.

While some people post selfies to stay connected with their friends online, other people do it to seek attention. Let’s play a scenario; we constantly see our friends posting selfies of themselves, while on vacation, hanging out with friends, and doing all the fun activities. When we see these, we subconsciously feel jealous. It makes us want to post our own, to show the world that we are not left out in the fun.

But why do people twist their mouth while taking selfie?
I may never find an answer to that.

The selfie train does not exclude anyone, it has featured prominent people, including, Barack Obama and the pope.

However, it is not all good news for the selfie addicts. Researchers are reading more serious meaning into the trend. Jesse Fox, an assistant professor of communication at Ohio state university, explains that “people who score higher on self-objection post more selfie which leads to feedback from friends from friends online, which encourages them to post more photos of themselves”

If you are a guy and you are consumed with the selfie obsession, you could be on the antisocial trait central. Jesse Fox has something for you “it’s not surprising that men who post a lot of selfie, and spend more time editing them, are more narcissistic but this is the first time it has actually been confirmed in a study”.

I am of the opinion that, selfies in public are like seeing a lady scratching her butt in public. I would prefer she didn’t do it, but I can’t be bothered, it doesn’t affect my life in any way. No one is allowed to question where the other person takes a selfie, as long as it doesn’t interfere with another person’s life.

But when it interferes with other peoples' lives, as In the case of Jordan Toner.  A driver who crashed into a tree while taking a “selfie” with his passengers. Some selfies end in tragedy!

Did you read the story of some "morons" who made happy selfie with their dead relatives? That is how far people go these days to take selfies.

I am particularly amused by the selfie of a smiling couple who just had a divorce. The picture went viral online. But I wondered what they were trying to portray; the imperfection of family life? Perhaps, they are trying to tell us that it is just normal to lose a family.

Despite the growing risk people subject themselves to in taking selfie, it’s becoming more popular than ever, according to Google trend. Going by the current trends, selfies are not going to fade away anytime soon. 

Selfie is a good thing, it’s a way of keeping record of our activities and special moments, but we must always think safety first when taking a photo.