Selfies, they are like Marmite- you love them or you hate them. So many youngsters see their favourite celebs or family members taking these photos and want to get in on the trend. But do they know this is only worsening their mood and self-esteem?
Why do people take selfies?
Often youngsters are insecure and want to know how others feel about their looks. It`s not uncommon to find a picture of somebody with multiple comments saying how nice, pretty or peng they are. This simply makes the picture taker feel more insecure as all the commenters care about is their good looks.This creates a disturbing cycle of people depending on other peoples' replies and comparing how many comments they got on a picture to how many comments their friend got.
It is exceedingly upsetting to everyone and even though the posting person may feel confident and proud of the positivity in their peer`s replies - the wait for somebody to comment or the mere posting of the image can really bring people down.
Why selfies drain so much time and energy
For those new to taking selfies and not understanding of such an idea, a lot of detail goes into these types of photos. You have to choose an angle to hide 'fat', a certain lighting to mask pores and 'spots', many people also use filters to make themselves seem virtually flawless. This may seem okay to some people as everybody wants to look perfect. But, with people doing this and editing their photos unnaturally it almost makes it seem that flaws and imperfections are disgusting - whereas these little differences make us unique and stand out as a person.
We need to let children know that it is okay to be vibrant in your own way and fashion, if we were all sheep the World would be no fun and we wouldn`t develop at all.
What can be done
Here`s the answer you were probably expecting- don`t take them. However, this is not the answer I want to give right now. We all deserve a bit of fun here and there so take selfies from time to time.
Just make sure you know that when people see a picture of you, they just see you - they don`t look for flaws, they are probably too absorbed in whatever they are doing anyway. We all need to be more comfortable as a community and know that even non-technological time can result in that break we needed.
In conclusion; withdraw yourself from your phone for a little relaxation every day. Let others compliment you when the time is right and don`t force others into complimenting you by posting faked photos. We all have good days, we all have bad days - nothing more can be said.
