The selfie bears much criticism for our over infatuation with ourselves. An exclamation point to our self-absorbed lives turborized by social media. We live, it is said, in an age of self-promotion and self-congratulations that makes past despots look timid by comparison. (Sidestepping current politics, sort of, Napoleon with a Twitter feed is yet another reason to band time travel when Google or Apple or Elon Musk invent it.)
I loathe selfie sticks conversion of monuments, vistas, and classic works of art and architecture into dispensable backside props. I have empathy for public celebrities whose obligation to kiss babies or sign photos of themselves or the body parts of others has been replaced by actually posing with their fans and supporters while a phone is extended and they and their fan are forever inextricably bound together. Yet, another reason beyond just my lacking of any noteworthy ability, not to become famous.
Still, there is this: Selfies are hardly a new phenomenon. Since we became beings with the unique ability to perceive our own existences we have wondered, How do we appear to others? Who I am?, cannot be explored without asking, Who am I to others?
(My focus has not been off for 51 years. I was just too lazy to remove the photo from behind the frame’s glass.)
Nor are selfies solely an invention of the camera. Self-portaits can claim firsties. But, technology has made them so easy and instantaneous to create. No mirrors needed. No existential inspiration required. They have become just another means to show the world what we are doing every moment of our lives. The selfie is only a symptom, not the disease itself.
