Nasira Kane
English 150
Prof. Todd Craig
29 April 2014
The Positive and Negative Effects of The “Selfie”
The Selfie has been the norm since the beginning of the 21st century. Today, we feel the need to post "selfies" in order to garner likes and feel better about ourselves. I have been caught up in the selfie craze. I would consider Facebook, Instagram, and Tumblr to be some of my guilty pleasures, but I do realize that the more that I participate in selfie taking the more self absorbed I get. The new craze has been taking over both the younger and older generation, affecting them both positively and negatively. The “selfie” can raise confidence but it can also bring you down further than you already were. Some say that it is not good for you and some say that it will raise confidence and make you feel like beautiful person that you are, but one thing that we all know is that selfie culture is evolving.
My selfie craze had started when I was 11, I had made a myspace account even though I was forbidden to and after a couple of months of successfully hiding it, my parents had found the account and I was scolded. They were especially angry that that my profile picture was a picture of me in a bikini. They thought at my age, that it was not appropriate to have a picture showing off my body and to have a myspace account at all. Despite it all, I continued to make myspace accounts and even acquired a Facebook account while I was at it. After they finally figured out that they could not stop me, they gave in and I was free to participate in social networks. I was so infatuated with the fact that people were commenting and liking my selfies, it made me feel good. I would definite...
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...ritten about the positive and negative effects of selfies but the negative’s show that selfies are not very good for the younger generation because we are not focused on the important things in life. The older generation did not have anything like it and they turned out pretty well. I ask myself that question everyday because social media is a such guilty pleasure of mine. As the selfie culture evolves, we should be learning to control it and focusing on the more important things. Selfies often boost your confidence but they can also bring it down. They are fine every once in a while but you can not let it take over your life. There are also other ways to gain confidence and achieve self-validation. People do not need to let selfies take over the life they live and the goals that they are trying to achieve because depression is not worth the likes and comments.
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.
I feel as though more and more teens of this generation are using social media in order to seek approval of attention of others. Since they are expected to use social media in a way to create an online audience, they post pictures of themselves and activities so that they can get a “yes” or “no” response from their audience. If someone posts a picture online and someone who is considered a “friend” makes a positive comment on the photo, then they have received approval of their actions. If someone makes a negative remark on the photo, then they have received disapproval. She uses various examples of how young adults use social media to create a persona of themselves, such as when girls post sexualized pictures of themselves and create avatars of themselves (Orenstein, 448). This means that how they are seen online will affect how they act in real life. When Orenstein says that “the self, becomes a brand”, she means that young adults have to act in a way that is perceived to be socially acceptable by their peers, and the image of how everyone sees you. So many people today use social media, and the biggest one that is being used is Facebook. Profile pictures, albums, and statuses are things that gets posted up for anyone to comment, like, or dislike. Your “friends” on
I believe the younger generation lets selfies and other forms of social media affect them by creating dishonest performance from who they truly are. The ones who are not affected by this and seem to present their true identities in most cases is the older generation. Social media has become an everyday thing for teenagers. They are constantly on the lookout for what new trends are going on and what they can do to get in on this trend. For example, in my past experiences I have seen friends as well as other people from school that see something popular on social media such as clothes and buy them to just try and fit in on this trend. They would post selfies with their outfit of the popular clothes to fit in and get the recognition of others, but when all this seemed to not be so popular anymore and people would jump on something new they would not wear it anymore and try to sell it. This comes to show that teenagers focus so much on social media that they distance themselves from their true image to try and fit in with what’s
Furthermore, it is thought that social media lets humans connect with others and have more friends than those in the real world. However, this is not always true. People worry about their online worlds and whether people will like them. Online, people are more judgemental than real world friends, which can lead to a low self-esteem. The article “YES: Connecting Virtually Isn’t Like Real-World Bonding” by Larry Rosen states that “...our constant need to check comes from anxiety…” Obviously, technology has a negative effect on people as far as lower self-esteem and
Social media has become one of the most popular sources of communication for the upcoming generation. For young people growing up in today’s society, social media outlets such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter have provided pictures and news that have become the first thing that their eyes see in the morning and the last thing that they see before bed. These pictures have provided unrealistic standards as to what is considered beautiful in today’s society. As young people refer to these images as a form of comparison, it has created harmful circumstances. These influences on the lives of young people have forced them to take extreme measures and in some cases, has been the cause of death. Social media in today’s society has proven to have a negative impact on the way young people, specifically females, view their bodies. Unrealistic beauty standards, dangerous comparisons and disorders have all been a result to the increase in social media and the impact that it has on the lives of young people.
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
An unfortunate development in the past few years is the social construct that the future generation is steadily becoming more selfish and vain. Likely originating from the countless “selfies,” or pictures of oneself, being taken by teenagers and young adults, adults of the last generation seem to be under the impression that the Millennials in line to take power will have more priorities meant to benefit the individual rather than the population as a whole. Thankfully, they are mistaken. Still, though, it is a problem that the line between self-confidence and narcissism has become so thin that we can no longer be one without the other. General impressions of the words have been passed down through the years, and unfortunately both have become so watered down that they seem basically the same. So what is the difference between confidence and narcissism?
If you could change one thing about your body, what would it be? Ninety percent of fifteen to seventeen year old girls want to change one aspect of their physical appearance-body weight ranking the highest (Eating Disorders and Media Influence). Body image is defined as the way a person feels about his or her body. Many things can play a part in determining that viewpoint such as media and the surrounding environment. Women are bombarded with a constant stream of social networks and media paraphernalia telling them how to look and how to act. They then develop a socially based view on their appearance rather than an individually based one. While displaying some good qualities, media has an overall negative impact on women by creating problems such as a desire for conformity, eating disorders, and body dissatisfaction.
Social media has taken over the world of communication and has changed the ways in which we communicate on a daily basis. It is extremely influential on our lives because of how easily we are able to access these mediums of communication. I’m intrigued by the effects that social media has on people’s perceptions of their self-worth. Almost all of the social networking sites seem to measure, at least to some extent, the popularity level or status of its users. All have a number of ‘followers’ or ‘friends’ which if there’s a high number of followers or friends that seems to elevate a person’s popularity level or their online status. This in turn could make their self-esteem or ego rise, whereas if their follower level is low it may disappoint or aggravate that user. All of these sites also offer areas where followers can ‘like’ pictures or posts, ‘comment’ on these pictures/posts, ‘share’ the post, and what have you. How important are ‘likes’ and whatnot to our actual self-esteem? Do we value online popularity the same way or more than we value real-life interactions? How could this affect the mental health of those who use these networking sites? Is this kind of online community promoting more narcissistic persons in the community? So many questions… I’m not alone in asking these questions. I’m convinced that social media has a negative influence on the self-esteem of its users.
Most of the studies on selfie are about young adults. People are hesitant to take selfies because they think and feel that they might look unattractive. On the other hand, analyzing and editing carefully the selfies could be helpful and be a therapeutic negotiation to girls. Selfie could be relevant to finding our true selves. Nowadays, brilliant photographers had made selfie taking techniques to be a guide in taking the perfect
Each recording differs in emotion and has its own backstory. Some people fail to realize that taking a selfie or recording a video can be very significant to an individual. For example, my prom was a huge high school experience I wanted to remember for the rest of my life. Of course, I have so many memories of this day just in my head, but there’s no better way to self-reflect than having pictures. For starters smartphones made it so much easier to save money because we didn’t need to hire some fancy photographer.
Being the youngest of all my friends I was the last to join the world of Facebook. I remember being at the “girl-scout” sleepover and everyone was taking turns on the computer checking up on their Facebooks. I remember feeling envious and bitter of their “new lives”. I went home the next day from the sleepover begging my parents to let me make my own profile even though I had yet reached the age requirement. After annoying them for a few hours they gave in with the usual, “give me the password, make it private, don’t friend strangers, don’t say stupid thing, blah blah blah...”. From this moment on I had entered a world of love and hate and a new way to create and destroy your self.
There is no secret that a modern day teenager’s life is built around the usage of technology. As a result of society’s heavy reliance on technology, social media has become popular amongst people who are “technologically advanced.” Though there is a wide variety of social sites that can be accessed through modern day technology, a few have become very popular. Social sites which have become widely popular among teens include Instagram, Tumblr, and Snapchat. These social networking sites provide instant social connection and emotional support while letting teens post and send pictures of their everyday life. Many teens look towards social media for emotional support and social acceptance. The continual usage of these sites are negatively impacting the self- esteem of teenagers worldwide since they heavily rely on social medias to portray images of what they believe is acceptable for the society we live in.
Humphrey states many times that a “picture is worth 1000 words,” and that may be true. Photos have the capability to send messages that words cannot. Humphrey observed from her interviews that many see Selfies as a way to allow users to record the memories being made in the present. While this is a valid truth, the Selfie is being abused in society. Most Selfie takers are using their photos as a means of winning a popularity contest. Many people take Selfies to brag to others about their new hair, or new outfit. It’s okay to share those things with others, but if the motive of the Selfie is an ego boost, then the photo loses its magic. Later in her article, Humphrey records the testimony of Pamela Rutledge, who supports the Selfie by asking “why text "I 'm happy" when you could post a picture of your smiling face,” (Humphrey). Rutledge has a
In the present day, new technology such as social media has taken root in society’s daily life. Many people are opposed to it because it is rapidly changing the standards of society by broadening social horizons and are afraid it will change how people view others and themselves for the worse. Contrary to this belief, people gain higher self-esteem and better images of themselves through social media and other various forms of social networking.