Social media platforms are replete with people staging selfies just for “Likes.” But an increasing number of them are literally dying for attention.
The next time you’re standing at the edge of a scenic cliff or on top of a waterfall, take care before snapping a quick selfie. It could be the last thing you do.
More than 250 people worldwide have died while taking selfies in the last six years.
(The Washington Post, October 3, 2018)
I’ve been waging a one-man, anti-selfie crusade for years with commentaries like “Hannah Anderson, Rescued Kidnap Victim, Posts Cutesy Selfies to Help Her Grieve…?” August 15, 2013, and “Confessions of Facebook Programmers/FAD Pushers Continue,” December 14, 2017.
But I hasten to clarify that I am more concerned about the way selfies have normalized narcissism than about the narcissists who might die staging them. Because, even more than snarky tweets, cheeky selfies are killing our culture.
This excerpt from “Keep Your Selfies to Yourself … Puhleeease!” April, 7, 2014, provides a little insight:
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A selfie is not just about adoring one’s own reflection like Narcissus; it’s more about taking a picture of that reflection to publish for all the world to see. But am I the only one who rues the cognitive dissonance that has turned self-obsessed showoffs from laughingstocks into standard-bearers of what is now not only acceptable but required public behavior? …
It would be funny if it weren’t so pathetic that millions use social media to beg for attention and life-affirming compliments. Not least because they invariably use images that give the impression they’re living a gilded life or looking more beautiful than they really are. Of course, these images are also contrived/photoshopped/airbrushed to make their ‘friends’ green with envy.
Frankly, this culture of unbridled narcissism and oversharing has become like a metastasizing cancer that is eroding all traditional notions of personal discretion and public decency. This cannot be a good thing, especially for the self-esteem of young girls. After all, they were already suffering untenable body-dysmorphic triggers from images of models in glossy magazines. Now, thanks to photo-shopping apps, ordinary girls on social media are setting similar, unattainable standards of beauty … and fame. …
Your friends and followers would really appreciate it if you’d spare them the annoying social obligation of having to tell you (every friggin’ day) how witty you are, or how beautiful you look.
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Unfortunately, selfie-addicts are as addicted to chasing likes as junkies are to chasing the dragon. This is why I fully appreciate the quixotic nature of my crusade. Not to mention this, which bears repeating:
Am I the only one who sees the mocking irony in selfies? People seem to take them only to share with the world on social media. But a selfie by definition would seem to be a photo you take to keep for yourself; you know, to capture yourself showing off in ways you’d only want intimate friends to see. But perhaps the more incriminating they become, the less narcissistic fools will impose them on the rest of us.
(“Sex, Lies, Selfies, and Texts,” The iPINIONS Journal, August 22, 2018)
Nonetheless, like the health workers waging their anti-HIV crusade, I am committed – even though my message is falling on many more deaf ears than theirs.
Related commentaries:
cutesy selfies…
keep your selfies…