One of the most defining characteristics of American history is the ability to create new and existing trends that come popular in America. Americans define these trends as pop culture. Popular culture can revolve around music, clothing, celebrities, vernacular or slang, and other fixations that become widespread across America. One of the most prominent parts of pop culture today is the language that is spoken. Today’s language is filled with slang terms that are derogative, over used, and narcissistic. One of the most over used words of 2013 was the term selfie. The word selfie was named Oxfords Dictionary’s word of the year. According to the oxford dictionary the definition of selfie is “a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website” (“Definition”). The definition of this term is far from what it has become today. Society believes this word is a narcissistic example of the adolescents in pop culture. While others argue that the technology that sits in front of this generation allows people to be self-absorbed easily. With the use of applications like Instagram, Snap Chat, and Facetime, twitter, Facebook, and other smart phone applications; these mechanisms allow pop culture to fall into this egotistical state of mind. When these social media sites and technology are being used to create these selfies it causes a blurred line between being self-absorbed and working on the self-image of an individual.
One of major uses of the word selfie is on social media. People use hastags, for example, “#selfiesunday” as a reason to post pictures of themselves every Sunday. However, it is not just Sundays where people are posting pictures of themselves. It...
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Although Rachel Simmons in “ Selfies Are Good for Girls” and Erin Ryan in “ Selfies Aren’t Empowering. They’re a Cry for Help”, both agree selfies can show accomplishments. However, Simmons believes selfies are a way for young women to boost their pride whereas Ryan defines them as a way to gain social approval confirmation. Simmons believes selfies are empowering, and increase self-confidence levels of young women. According to Simmons “selfie is a tiny pulse of girl pride - a shout-out to the self (P4)”. In other word, she believes self-portrait gives teenage girls an outlet to express pride within themselves. She explains how selfie not only express pride, it is also a way for young women to share their accomplishments, as shown in the
In the article “What Your Selfies Say About You” by Peggy Drexler, she talks about self-portraits also known as the “selfie”, and how it has taken over social media and added a manifestation to society’s obsession with looks. Taking a self-portrait can be positive in the sense that you are proud of your image and are not scared to share it with others helping boost up your self-esteem. Although this may help others by persuading them to not be ashamed to share their true image, Drexler believes this can also affect other individuals whose focus is only on looks making them feel self-conscious about their looks. A recent study out of the UK found that the selfie phenomenon may be damaging to real world relationships, concluding that both excessive
A selfie is a picture that you take of yourself especially by using the front camera of your smartphone ("Selfie"). The word was added to the dictionary in 2013 and originates from Australia. A selfie can be used to relive moments with someone but is mostly used for attention. There are people who post more than one selfie a day and that is outrageous. It is one of the most narcissistic acts created because there are people who spend hours a day taking selfies and don 't do anything productive instead. Majority of children know how to take selfies but not tie their shoes. It 's a trend that will never have an end. If anything the trend evolves more each day with gadgets to help take better selfies. There are tools to create a great selfie such as selfie sticks and selfie timers. There are apps to take selfies even if your phone comes with a camera application which is the most logical location on which to take a selfie. The worst selfie application I have seen to this day is the one where it appears that you were wearing make up or have a different hairstyle. The reason why are the worst because some people take it to an extreme level where they hide all of their imperfections and look like a completely different person. I have aunts who take too much advantage of those applications and end up looking as if they belonged in a cartoon. I have met many people from
This paper will examine the effects that social media and magazines tend to have on individuals. To help determine the effects of these kinds of media on the self, this paper will discuss what the “self” is. It will also look at the different types of social media and magazines while examining the positive and negative aspects these kinds of media contribute to the self. The constant ongoing debate happens to be what is deemed to be the actual definition of the word self.
Here’s a question, how often do you check your social media profile’s notification? Based on a research conducted, it is revealed that, Facebook users around the world logged into their account approximately 42,000 years of human time each day (Gutierrez, 2013). An article written by The New York Times stated that the current generations are becoming narcissistic and it is believed that social media are among the plausible factors that promotes it (Quenqua, 2013). However, how true can this statement be? Many researches have proven that social media is not the main cause of narcissism. It has been demonstrated via the real role of social media, the co-relation between social pressure and narcissism, the failure to conclude acceptance of criticism instead of narcissism, the current generation trend and the real problem of narcissism.
Today, our culture demands us to be perfect, thin, powerful, successful, smart, extraordinary, but when people begin to try achieving them, we start labeling them as narcissists. The problem is that it is impossible for anyone to please everyone. Brown defines narcissism as simply a “fear of never feeling extraordinary enough to be noticed, to be lovable, to belong, or to cultivate a sense of purpose” (22). Before giving out labels, it is wise to practice asking ourselves questions to clear the intentions and reasons of someone’s behavior. For example, teenagers posting pictures of themselves online to gain some attention reveals that the culture has taught them that they are as lovable as the number of likes and comments they get on social media. Negative feedback roots into negative thinking about vulnerability and causes them to shut themselves down and never show their real selves again. Encouraging others to believe that they are perfect as themselves, will plant a positive attitude in them and push them to pursue their goals and visions to fulfill their dream of a happy
There you are holding your camera an arm’s length away from your face, posing in the most flattering position to capture your best angle. There you are taking a photo of yourself to share with all of your Facebook friends. Taking a self-portrait photo, also known as a selfie, is something almost everyone has done in this new generation. This action is typically done without a second thought. In Alex Williams’ article “Here I Am Taking My Own Picture” that second thought is provoked through exploring the quickly spreading trend of self-portrait photography. In the article while Williams’ provides interesting examples on a changing generation as this trend progresses through social media and modern technology; Williams also leaves something to be desired within the article due to a lack of direction in the author’s stance on the topic.
Newton, Julianne H. The Burden of Visual Truth: The Role of Photojournalism in Mediating Reality. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2001. Print.
In particular, interest over whether people who use SNSs have higher levels of Narcissism than non-users of such sites. Two reasons have been discovered as to why people who use SNS may have higher levels of Narcissism than non-users. Firstly, Narcissism is strongly associated with forming relationships as an opportunity for self-enhancement (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). Online communities, like Facebook and Twitter, encourage self-absorbed behaviour as they are built on superficial ‘friendships’ and often are used to maintain large numbers of relationships rather than deeper relationships. This allows Narcissists to maintain large numbers of shallow relationships, which constantly affirms their Narcissistic esteem (Buffardi & Campbell, 2008). Secondly, these sites offer a highly controlled environment, providing owners with complete power over self-presentation (Mehdizadeh, 2010). This provides an ideal setting for the owner to manage the impression they portray to others and create their “hoped-for possible selves” (Mehdizadeh, 2010). In particular, SNSs can be used to only share attractive photos of oneself or writing posts that are self-promoting, creating a biased impression of themselves (Ryan & Xenos,
will act to maintain his or her self-image regardless of whether it is high or low.” (Greene & Frandsen, 1979, p. 124) Self-esteem is important in social situations; it can help a person have
Selfie-Loathing: Here’s Why Instagram Is Even More Depressing than Facebook. Slate Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2013/07/instagram_and_self_esteem_why_the_photo_sharing_network_is_even_more_depressing.html
The online photograph sharing, storytelling app has challenged the way people identify themselves. It has help raise the question of which identity is more important in today’s digital age? Self-identity is the “verbal conceptions we hold about ourselves and our emotional identification with these conceptions.” Social identity is the “expectations and opinions that others have of us.” (Kitzmann, Lecture 12) Instagram allows its users to post photographs of anything they choose, however at times these photos give people to challenge the idea of appearance versus reality. The use of photo editing apps is just an example of a way that users are able to fix the imperfections they see in order to make the picture “instagram worthy.” The appearance of the photograph is flawless when in reality it took several minutes (or hours) to take over fifty selfies and to edit the perfect one before it was considered for posting. This is how the app challenges hegemonic practices of beauty. In the fall of 2015, a model by the name of Essena O’Neil decided to quit instagram. For most people, they would assume that she deleted the app or deactivated her account; however she kept her account running only to re-caption her old pictures. O’Neil went back to her old posts and changed their captions, exposing all of
Victoria, Woollaston. "Selfies Are 'damaging' and Leave Young People Vulnerable to Abuse, Claims Psychologist." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 23 Aug. 2013. Web. 23 Jan. 2014.
Several decades ago, communications philosopher Marshall McLuhan spoke about the development of the Global Village and how the evolution of new technologies would help connect people on opposite sides of the world, creating online communities that would break boundaries and borders. While this change has been recognized, so too has the idea explored by his successors in which while individuals were expected to look at others in the world through a telescope, they have alternatively developed the tendency to look at themselves through a microscope. As the era of worldwide connectivity began, so did the era of ‘me, me, me’. Both the hardware and the software of the new millennium, inclusive of the iPhone’s forward-facing camera, and apps that allow one to fix blemishes and whiten teeth, have adapted to allow this change to an inward focus. While this has certainly caught on, it has also begun to cause a lot of problems. The act of posting about the self began to be seen as a negatively self-centered one when Facebook NewsFeeds were filled with egotistic stories and ‘Selfies,’ photos of the self. Shortly after, the application Instagram was created, where the occurrence of the Selfie was magnified to a greater degree. This intensive focus inward, and the way these pieces of media are shared, have made some individuals reliant on the positive expressions of others for self-confidence and social approval. When self-esteem is intertwined with how many ‘likes’ a photo gets on a mobile application, we start to see a shift in how self-awareness is formed, what people will do for this approval, and how some will react to a lack of attention.
These pictures give users a certain “self-control” that they are able to use to their advantage when posting them on social media. “Alicke (1985) found that the pictures brought out the self-favorable characteristics optimizing ones likeness to the better features of their self” (Re & Rule, 2016). By using selfies it gives the users confidence in how they look and how others will perceive them. In comparison to the models and the seventeen year old teenager described earlier in my paper, selfies typically help to hide the features that one might feel they lack giving them a better perception of how they feel. Selfies include “selfie filters,” or digital photo enhancement tools” to help improve the picture in making what they feel will look better to others and themselves” (Re & Rule).These filters typically “blind” others in seeing things as if they really are not. Meaning the pictures used with these “phot enhancements” are not the real person. The pictures are modified to help fit what would be considered to be a more physically attractive look. Those who participate in taking selfies and using these filters can also be possibly subject to harsh criticism in the end though. “If selfies are to help shape ones biases to be more likeable, than selfie-takers may exaggerate how positively their selfies are recognized. This creates possibly a blind spot where others view those filtered selfies as less likeable”(Re & Rule,2016). Basically, those who use these filters and enhancements are more likely to have others perceive their photos as less attractive, because of the amount of what could be described as cover ups they have used toward their photos. This idea may be the case of some because with all these filters those on the outside looking in may feel one is trying to cover up who they really are physically. These filters though are mostly used for