Blopost 7: The Emotions Behind Selfies

Selfie is getting larger and larger every time. In every minute, people tend to upload the same boring faces with different captions from google with matching filters of sorts and hashtags. But why do people have this mindset of giving off a selfie in every moment of their life? It seems like SNS is so abused because of their faces with foods, friends and even animals. And worst of it, maltreatment with other living things is visibly shown in this sites. Sometimes, a lot of questions lingers in our minds, like : What made them continue what they had started? What do they feel about taking a selfie? Why do people take selfies in the first place?



According to the article, ''Selfies stops us from Seriousness'' by Jason Feifer, the reason why selfie is sweeping the nation is connected to the theory that people are not well educated on their own facial expressions – People have spent years reading and recognizing faces and facial expressions, but they’re no experts at looking at their own faces. Since we don’t all just stare at ourselves in the mirror, especially while making facial expressions of emotions, we tend to have an inaccurate representation of what we actual look like.

"A selfie, like any photograph, interrupts experience to mark the moment. In this, it shares something with all the other ways we break up our day even through a single smile," Jason Feider said.


It simply states that a single smile of a person mark the moment, breaking up our day in different ways. We all know that smiling shows a happy life. And yet, sometimes it portrays some other ways just to break up the day to cover up and forget hurtful things and face again tomorrow.

I have read an article entitled, ''The Science behind why we take Selfies'' by James Kilner, a collection of cultural artifacts. It states there that in everyday social situations people tend to spend a lot of time looking at and interpreting other people's faces and facial expressions. Indeed, reading and responding correctly to other people's facial expressions is essential for successful social interactions.That through lifetime, people become experts at recognizing and interpreting other people's faces and facial expressions.  The perception of one's own facial expression comes from the sense of feeling that faces move. Lack of visual knowledge about own faces means that some person have a very inaccurate representation of what own faces look like at any given time. 

"The main thing with a self-portrait is you are trying to show the viewer something about yourself. You, on your own, can be a powerful statement." James Kilner said.

The way a person smiles already give a statement on other person's perspective. For we know that emotions is a means of conceiving a message towards other person. Sometimes, it is hard for us to tell what we truly want to convey to a person through our selfies. Not all person is brave enough to say, 'Óh, this is how I feel. It become viral being released on a photo and there's still left behind. It can easily be transmitted to all. There's no need for a person to call or send a text message and an email. Everything is visible on the image itself. We can tell whether someone is happy, sad, broken-hearted or whatever. Emotions is convey through the feelings shown on a selfie photo.A selfie beats an autograph, and sometimes it even beats a conversation.

I have read an article entitled, ''Does Taking a Selfie Make You a Bad Person?'' by John M. Grohol, PSY. D. He stated that taking selfie is like documenting your life for a second that can never be repeated again. Selfie according to him is the visual representation on how we feel that words cannot convey. It seems to him that life come and passed by. He even added:

'' The selfie makes us accustomed to putting ourselves and those around us on pause in order to document our lives. It is an extension of how we have learned to put our conversations on pause when we send or receive a text, an image, an email, a call. When you get accustomed to a life of stops and starts, you get less accustomed to reflecting on where you are and what you are thinking.''

Just as how people know what we feel by discerning our spirit is like how they feel by simply looking at our face. We know if someone is happy when he smile, and sad when someone is crying. An emotions changes from time to time. Not all the time we are happy and not all the time we are sad. That's why selfie documents important emotions we portray from time to time.

There is nothing wrong with our emotions being convey on a photo. We all have given the right to express what we feel and what we want other people to know. Because sometimes, it is hard to express in word and it is much better to be left on a photo. So we must not simply judge on what our eyes can see. For deep within the heart of someone, there might be something deeper and serious. A photo might just bring us a hint of someone's emotion.