Selfie-sh by: Irissa Kai written: 2016
Let’s talk about selfies. We all have a gazillion of them on our phones and scattered them all over our social media accounts. We love it. I love it. But what’s this talk of selfies creating the next generation of narcissists? Let’s digress for a minute and find out its meaning. narcissism: the pursuit of gratification from vanity or egotistic admiration of one's own attributes This term originated from Greek mythology, where the young Narcissus fell in love with his own image reflected in a pool of water. While it has inevitably led to increased interest and admiration in one’s appearance, to make a sweeping generalization of what selfies will do to people - is presumptuous. It is easy and trendy to slam something we find foreign. It's 2016. 9 out of 10 Singaporeans own smartphones and more often than not, there’s a camera function. This means that for the first time in a long time, anyone and everyone can post themselves as they see fit without help. In retrospect, we would have to ask a friend or even a stranger to snap a photograph. The way I see it is that selfies have helped empower individuals to capture their beauty from their own perspective and present themselves how they want to be seen without the need for a male-dominant industry aka Hollywood to portray how they want the girls to be seen. Another thing made possible in this New Age is the ability for people that can’t make it in the industries to turn to social media. Youtube, Soundcloud, Instagram have seen the birth of extraordinary people emerging from the dust. The beauty of it is that there is no space for discrimination. With that, anyone, be it the colour of their skin, gender, appearance, can now thrive online within their comfort. Bottom line, we can assume that a selfie is a simple way of showcasing that he/she/they are acknowledging that they feel good in their skin. So good that they just had to share it with the world. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. There has also been the uprisal of social media hashtag campaigns such as ‘bodyposi’ and Dove’s ‘Real Beauty’ which emphasizes that every woman out there is beautiful. Not average, but beautiful. Writer Lindsay-King Miller for Bitch online magazine said ‘While I’m in favour of encouraging women to feel confident and happy, I worry that today’s body positivity focuses too much on affirming beauty and not enough deconstructing its necessity.’