Selfies
When I think of selfies I can’t help but picture a 14 year old version of myself, taking my Mother's Samsung Digimax, duckfacing in front of a full length mirror and always, without fail, forgetting to turn the flash off (see evidence below).
PRODUCING POUTS
SINCE 2008.
Selfies have been an institution for all teenage try-hards for generations, they’re not only a great way to guarantee a flattering photo, but also act as a personal representation to the rest of the world. Whilst some regard the act of ‘selfieing’ as laughably vain and something which girls do on the very rare occasion their make up has ‘goes right’, others regard them as barrier breaking representations of an online community.
A Brief History of the Selfie
There’s no doubt that selfies are the most recognised social media trend going, however the act of self portrait photography has been around a lot longer than the days of MySpace. The first ‘official’ selfie was produced in 2002 (so really not that long ago), when an hung over Aussie coined the phrase after sharing a photo of himself in an ABC online forum and captioning it, “Um, drunk at a mates 21st, I tripped ofer [sic] and landed lip first (with front teeth coming a very close second) on a set of steps. I had a hole about 1cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus, it was a selfie.”
THE BUSTED LIP WHICH PIONEERED SELFIES
FIRST EVER SELFIE CIRCA 1839.
Whilst this injured Aussie may have been the first person to give it a name, the act of selfieing has actually been occurring since the 1800s. The first acknowledge self-taken photograph occurred in 1839, by Philadelphian photography enthusiast and amateur chemist Robert Cornelius. By removing the lens cap of his camera, which was set up at the back of his family’s store, Cornelius ran into frame, where he sat for a minute before covering the lens again. On the back of the developed photograph he wrote “The first light Picture ever taken. 1839”, which was basically like the 1839 version of saying “Totes just snapped the first ever #SELFIE.”
The selfie phenomena
Since its birth, the act of selfieing has become one of the most popular ways to virtually display ones self. Late last year ‘Selfie’ made into The Oxford Dictionary, after its use in the English language increased by 17,000% since November 2012. Following the Dictionary’s acceptance, selfie was also turned into a hit single and viral music video by US DJ duo, The Chainsmokers, with the help of various online celebrities, and the geniuses behind the social media publishing company, theAudience. The video for #SELFIE has now reached over 41 million views and has been the result of an explosion of self promoted parody tributes (including my own at the top of the page).
Although the act of taking a picture of your self seems pretty basic, selfieing has developed into something much more. With mutations including, Celebrity Selfies (who can forget Ellen's 2014 Oscar attempt?), Funeral Selfies, Belfies, Animal Selfies, Drunk Selfies, and the most recent alteration (and in some cases the most disturbing) #AfterSex Selfies, spreading across social media like a Nutella on toast, I find myself asking the question, why does this phenomena exist? Is it purely a sign of society’s intense vanity, or are selfies the perfect way display yourself to the online environment around you? And maybe, the most important question of all... will selfies ever stop?
BEST CELEB SELFIE . . . EVERRR!
Actor/Director/Writer/Selfie King, James Franco doesn't seem to think so. In an article he wrote for The New York Times in December last year Franco makes a strong point, that selfies, are a way of asserting attention through social media, which of course works in his favour completely (considering his substantial 1,525,091 Instagram followers and 1.83 million Twitter followers). According to Franco, “Attention is power. And if you are someone people are interested in, then the selfie provides something very powerful, from the most privileged perspective possible.”
Whilst the ‘King of Selfies’ makes a valid point which mainly applies to those like himself, who we actually care about viewing on social media, he also mentions how beneficial they can be for us normal folk, “…selfies are avatars: Mini-Me’s that we send out to give others a sense of who we are.” Which of course seems all well and good for most people, but what happens when a selfies go to far?
On Sunday 23rd March, The Mirror broke the story of 19-year-old Danny Bowman, who was dubbed Britain’s first selfie addict. At the age of 15 the teenager was said to be so obsessed with capturing the perfect selfie that he attempted an overdose when he failed to do so. With The Mirror stating that Danny “… spent 10 HOURS a day taking up to 200 snaps of himself on his iPhone.” the story highlights the addiction as the cause of a technology addiction, form of OCD and Body Dysmorphic Disorder, which Danny was diagnosed before completing therapy at the Maudsley Hospital in London. In a following interview with ITV’s Daybreak the teenager spoke out about his disorder whilst explained that the public's reaction to The Mirror’s article was misunderstood as many blamed his issue on vanity, however it was of course due to his mental illness.
With extremes like Danny's case which resulted in his hospitalisation all due to the quest to find the perfect angle, doesn't it seem that selfies are getting a little out of control? With image forums circulating like The Selfie Olympics, it sort of seems that way. Now kids are going to dangerous extremes to produce selfies like no others around, the act is are no longer a quick snap of your latest lip colour, but incredibly thought out and in most cases, stupidly dangerous attempts of saying "Hey guys! Look at me and how whacky I am!"
SELFIE KING
AND OWNING IT
EXTREME USE OF PROPS
FOR THE SELFIE OLYMPICS
STICK YOUR HEAD IN A SINK
FOR THE SELFIE OLYMPICS
Whether you see selfies as a positive gateway like Franco, an excuse to push the boundaries, or even think that more extremes like Danny's harrowing attempts to reach perfection is bound to happen again, there is no escaping the viral phenomenon. With #me being the third most popular reoccurring hashtag currently on Instagram, it's pretty clear to see that selfies aren't going anywhere anytime soon. However won't we all eventually get bored of them after seeing your Mum posting yet another high-angled pic to her Me, Myself & I Facebook album? We shall have to see.
