Are “Selfies” Getting a Bad Rep?

Recently for one of my Communications Classes here at the College of Charleston we were discussing if social media has made millennials more narcissistic. One of the key arguments in support of that statement was the rise of the “selfie.”

Selfie (a euphemism for self portrait for anyone out there that lives under a rock) has become so wide spread and culturally significant that the word itself was named 2013’s world of the year (beating out tough competition like twerk). It seems that everyone these days is taking selfies, from selfie pioneer Kim Kardashian to commander in chief Barack Obama.

But is this is a bad thing? Is this really a sign that as a culture and especially as a generation that we are becoming more narcissistic and self absorbed? Is the selfie the first sign of America’s culture demise? Many people–including the student in my class who used selfies as their example of social media facilitating narcissism—would say absolutely yes. To those people it seems that selfies represent all the ills of social media and technology dependent millennials—we over share, we are infantile, we have low self esteem, we have too high self esteem, we are too vapid, too self absorbed… and mostly importantly too narcissistic.

But is this really true? Is everyone who takes a selfie so narcissistic that his or her ever-growing head can barely fit into a cropped Instagram frame? I mean maybe Kim K yes, but Barack Obama? He hardly seems too self-absorbed yet he took part in a selfie, and I have to admit I’ve taken my fair share of selfies and haven’t really experienced my ego spiraling out of control.

One could argue that not all selfies are created equal—yes there are the super posed, extra filtered, unnaturally flattering selfies that scream self-absorption but there are the silly selfies or even the selfies that capture important moments. If I ever met…Obama let’s say, there’s no way I wouldn’t take a selfie.

So maybe instead of condemning the selfie we should embrace it as a means of self-expression, I mean after all the self-portrait is a medium that has been used by famous artists for centuries.  We are the first generation to have cameras so readily accessible in everyday life and we are experimenting with that power, and maybe older generations have been to quick to judge. After all, didn’t people think the printing press was a bad idea when it first was invented? Maybe selfies won’t change society as much as the printing press did, but the act of taking a selfie has become very culturally resonant in a very short period of time.

Linguist Geoff Nunberg summed it up when discussing the choice of selfie as word of the year on NPR, “Are the selfies (girls post) a desperate kind of approval-seeking or the male gaze gone viral? Or are they tiny bursts of pride, empowering women to challenge conventional standards of beauty? Are they pure exhibitionism, or a kind of visual diary? …yes, yes, yes, and yes.” So in this brave new world of social media and technology, an argument can be made for both sides of the selfie. But I say snap away girls; just remember to always selfie responsibly.

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