The selfie. A relatively new fad that has accompanied the easily accessible front-facing camera. Those of us who have indulged the desire to post our perfectly lit and posed selfies have probably experienced many of the same things in the aftermath. So here, my lovely humans, are the reasons for my distaste for the selfie.
They force a comparison (mainly between girls) as to how we should look, dress, how well we should photograph and how we should present ourselves. Comparison between people is a slippery slope to begin with because no two people are the same! Girls often compare nearly every part of themselves to other girls, on the internet and in real life. So to compare your reflection to a well lit, meticulously adjusted and perfectly angled picture of someone you don’t know can impact self esteem. This is not to say that every picture you’ve ever posted of yourself has ruined someone else’s esteem, but the common practice of girls comparing selfies could use a little toning down.
THEY ARE HARD! You might be thinking “I take great selfies all the time, they’re not that hard.” Well, sure, I take fine selfies on a regular basis but come on, getting good natural light and doing your make up and positioning your hair and your head and your hand and lips and eyes and mouth, its HARD. Which just makes the comparison worse, if you don’t have the magic skills that good selfies require and then compare your selfie to someone else’s, you just aren’t going to feel good.
They can ruin the moment. When you just need that “candid” shot to complete your not-so-effortless Instagram theme, it can take the truth and reality out of photos. The endless stream of selfies that social media is immersed in can create a false sense of reality that is problematic. Countless Instagram stars have quit social media because of it. When our world is full of manicured photos on our tiny little screens, and when we spend all our time trying to emulate the false reality that these people are payed to produce, how do we break that superficial cycle? I think easing up on the relentless selfie-taking would help.
They enforce outdated beauty standards and expectations. What if you’re not photogenic? What if you don’t look like the girls in the trending selfies? These are questions I have definitely asked myself and I don’t like the feeling that I should look like someone else. This is not to say that all people with popular Instagram accounts want to enforce beauty standards and put down other girls, but the common admiration and idea that anyone can constantly look as perfect as these people who essentially live to look that way is impossible to uphold.
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