Sunday, February 16, 2014

Blogpost 6: Vanity

Today, many people take selfies for pure enjoyment or to share facial expressions with friends on social media such as Instagram, Facebook, and of course, Snapchat.  The question is does this foster narcissistic behavior?  Some people may post goofy pictures of themselves or pictures they think best represent themselves.  The motives that lay behind doing these things is questionable.  Some people, mainly females, post pictures of themselves in hopes to get attention from the broad social network they're associated with.  They seek external rewards, which is getting "likes" on Facebook or Instagram, for example.   People are living in a world where staying "connected" is the norm.  However, is there a point where too much connection with social media is not the norm?  While taking self-portraits was popular by the elite back in the day, it has always been something of value to Western culture.  Now, with cell phones, people are able to create their own selfies very quickly and easily and post them in seconds.  


The selfie has arguably become the greatest photographic trend of our time. Many are so interested in taking and sharing selfies and observing an image of themselves. As this continue to happened. Vanity starts. Obsession of one's image. Looking almost immediately after a short span of log. And worst of this is the narcissism. But what is narcissism? Some people are ignorant about this psychological illness. A Narcissistic personality disorder involves a preoccupation with self and how one is perceived by others. Narcissists pursue gratification from vanity and the admiration of their own physical and intellectual attributes.Instead of listening in order to respond, narcissists listen in order to dismiss, negate, ignore, minimize or otherwise make someone else’s concerns irrelevant. Narcissists feel that they are above others and that the rules don’t apply to them. Simply means that they are preoccupied with self. Some people do not know but they already fall into this kind of disorder. It is because of the lack of knowledge or ignorance. 

According to the article that I have read entitled, ''The Psychology of Selfies'' by Kristi Barlette. She explains that people have been creating selfies for centuries. In art and photography, we call them self-portraits, so it's interesting those who are looking for a little selfie satisfaction are often shamed and told they're narcissistic. 

 According to 
Kristi Barlette, "To some degree, we all require validation of our looks and confirmation that we're sexually attractive. This doesn't make us narcissistic, but merely human," 

 Experts seem to agree a selfie-lover lacks self confidence.   It makes sense, too, that selfie-snappers would be attention-starved, even lonely. If there was someone else around they wouldn't need to be taking their own picture, but rather could pass the camera to a friend, family member or significant other.Kristi Barlette added, "The rise of the selfie is a perfect metaphor for our increasingly narcissistic culture,"

She confirms what many selfie-haters suspected that a photo like this is about desperately crying out to look at someone with full attention. As she said that it starts with childhood and not getting enough mirroring from parents who are too busy working or being self-absorbed themselves. It makes sense, too, that selfie-snappers would be attention-starved, even lonely.


I read an article entitled, ''Selfies-- Self expression or Self- exploration'' by the American writer John Paul Titlow , He described selfie-sharing as medium of exploration of the people especially the teenage in determining the beauty that lies in them as they take their own photograph. According to John Paul Titlow  “A high school popularity contest on digital steroids”.

Some researchers think that people take selfies as a method of self-exploration.  People have always been interested in expressing themselves and figuring out who they are and what features they have since ancient times. Selfie users are seeking some kind of approval from their peers and the larger community, which is now effectively infinite.


To some, the selfie has become the ultimate symbol of the narcissistic age. A selfie can, in some respects, be a more authentic representation of beauty than other media images. Its instantaneous nature encourages superficiality. One of the possible side-effects has been that we care more about how we appear and, as a consequence, social acceptance comes only when the outside world accepts the way we look, rather than endorsing the work we do, or the way we behave off-camera. As we know, too much selfie is dangerous. It can lead into obsession and worst is the narcissism disorder. So we must properly handle the new innovation of technology to humanity .



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