When loading up any social media feed, it’s probable you’ll be struck by a storm of selfies. A selfie is a photograph of yourself, taken by yourself then to be uploaded for the internet to see. Behind this storm of selfies is a media stigma clenching on for dear life; if you post lots of selfies, you must have low self confidence, be narcissistic, vain and desperately seeking the approval of others somewhere between a like, a comment or a favourite. If a like, a comment or a favourite is the most important thing in the world to you, then yes, something is definitely wrong. But what’s the real harm in selfie culture and why are we so annoyed by it?
Living in a world that frowns upon self-love and confidence, it’s easy to mistake those qualities with vanity and being full-of-yourself. It’s impossible to be in control of the rest of the world liking you and how the rest of the world sees you – for every human obtains a galaxy of different opinions – but it is possible for you to like things about yourself and want to share these things with the world. Posting a selfie by no means implies that the selfie-poster has an uncontrollable need to be liked, but rather has a probably controllable need to want to share what they like about themselves. Isn’t that a good thing?
Wrong! says dailylounge.com with an article called “Science Confirms That Selfies Are The Worst”, which lacks a large quantity of credible scientific evidence despite what the title would lead you to believe. This article says taking selfies shows you have no self esteem because of a “study”. That’s a pretty big assumption considering 98% of people have more than likely taken a selfie in their lifetime (statistic probably not accurate) and it’s fairly unlikely that the entirety of that 98% hate themselves. Of course somewhere in the world the 2% are bathing in love for themselves and won’t go near an iPhone for the fear that Instagram may bring their self esteem down.
We live in a world that puts people down for being confident enough to take selfies, but also puts people down for not being confident enough to take selfies. This means two things:
Selfies are not a measure of confidence.
Selfies and self esteem are not parallel.
A selfie is a picture of yourself; it doesn’t have to be a picture of how you feel about yourself. It’s not a picture of how you feel about the people around you, nor is it a picture of how you feel about your cat (unless it’s a selfie with your cat, then we can all assume you love your cat. But only then).
Taking selfies doesn’t mean you’re vain and is no measure of your self love, your worth or a reflection on your relationships with the people you’re closest to, and is only unhealthy if you thrive on the likes or comments and measure your worth by those. It’s okay to take lots of selfies and feel comfortable in your own skin and it’s also okay to take loads and not feel comfortable in your own skin. Selfies and self esteem are not parallel. It’s just a picture of yourself in a cute dress.
Words by Zara Rowden
@zaraannecharlie