Have we become so self-consumed that everywhere we go people feel the need to take pictures of themselves and post them? I have one picture of myself, and the wife took it and migrated it to my phone.
[OP]
Contributor
Have we become so self-consumed that everywhere we go people feel the need to take pictures of themselves and post them? I have one picture of myself, and the wife took it and migrated it to my phone.
Moderator
I can proudly say that I have never taken a selfie. Who'd want to see it anyway?
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"It's paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn't appeal to anyone."
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[OP]
Contributor
Bruce, well then there is that part of no one wanting to see it. I am not versed in how to take a selfie and don't feel the need to know.
Contributor
It's a mystery to me, also. If you take a selfie without a selfie stick, your head (and anyone else in the picture) is going to fill the frame (your arm is only so long). So it's really a picture of yourself and not the area around you. Maybe people who take selfies don't have a friend they can put in a regular picture. Or maybe they just want a head shot of themselves.
Mike
Go into the world and do well. But more importantly, go into the world and do good.
Contributor
So that's not you in your avatar?Originally Posted by Bruce Page
Member
There might be a setting for it on these new fangled cell phones, that's the only thing I can think of but there ain't nothing for on my ol' flip phone. Glad to say I've never took one. If somebody has figured it out more power to 'em. It's a strange world out there!
I was once a woodworker, I still am I'm just saying that I once was.
Chop your own wood, it will warm you twice. -Henry Ford
Contributor
I get selfies that my daughter sends of her and the kids doing things. I love them. The cell phone and the pictures are the greatest thing for staying in touch with my kids and grand kids. I would rather be there to see them but the pictures and a selfie are the next best thing.
My avatar is a selfie my dog took of herself.
Contributor
Some people overdo it (like way overdo it) but why not every now and again? I take selfies of me and my kids and send to my wife or parents and they love it.
My wife and I will take them if we go somewhere fun and want to share it with friends and family. .
I took a simple one yesterday of me, my son (2yo) and our cat sitting on the couch. My wife had a long day away from our son and would much rather see a pic of him than hear me tell her or text her "we're sitting on the couch".
If go on a long bike ride, hike, go fishing somewhere really beautiful... I'll take a selfie with a great view in the background and send it to my wife or a friend.
If you take a selfie and all you see is you're big face, you are doing it wrong or have really short arms.
Why the hate?
Another indicator of the sad decline of western society?
"A hen is only an egg's way of making another egg".
– Samuel Butler
Moderator
What's the difference between selfies and going on a trip and taking a picture of yourself in front of the Eiffel Tower? Perfect moments of intimacy and awe are ruined by posing for a picture.
Down with duck face too.
Contributor
My wife and I are pretty hip, for being middle-aged, and the appeal of the whole selfie-thing likewise mystifies us. Put your phone away and enjoy the moment. Nobody will care about your selfie tomorrow. No matter what you think. Maybe only you.
Erik
Ex-SCM and Felder rep
Contributor
While I have never taken a selfie, my wife and I travel a bit and do enjoy having photographs to remind us of our trips. I don't like having my photograph taken as I am seldom satisfied with the smile on my face but married to the camera queen, I do have to allow it periodically but not as often as she would like.
It's called subjective. It's simply a matter of personal taste. The world would be a boring place if all of us liked the same things.
As far as another sign of the failure of Western society? In Yellowstone, in Australia, in New Zealand I saw lots of people from Eastern societies taking selfies. I am old enough to remember when my parents said that "Rock and Roll ....and the Beatles " were a Communist plot to take over the world.
Last edited by Ken Fitzgerald; 08-08-2016 at 10:20 AM.
Ken
So much to learn, so little time.....
Contributor
Ditto!
And . . . It's unlikely that I'll fall off a cliff or wander into harm's way while mugging for my camera held at arm's length.
Member
I don't understand the fascination either. I am trying to filter out 4 years of photos from my wife's phone before sending them to the printer. Around 10% of them are selfies. I can't find a single good quality in any of them. The front camera has a lower resolution. The camera can either focus up close or far away, but never both at the same time. Her head is tilted at a weird angle and the closeness exaggerates the size of her nose. She is way prettier than what shows up in the selfie pictures. I end up deleting most of them.
Steve
It's a byproduct of the human condition. Nothing has changed for the most part. Artists have painted self portraits for millennia. Technology now just gives every human being the "talent" to take and publish self portraits instantly. Van Gogh would have taken selfies, too... He probably wouldn't have gone with the pouty lips pose, though.
Those of us who have never taken a selfie probably don't spend too much time in front of a mirror, either. We can get ready for a nice dinner out in about 15 minutes. And don't really need a mirror...
"Selfie people" are also the ones who take a look in department store windows to see their own reflection. Not necessarily for narcissistic reasons, just to "check themselves out" and see that things are a-ok.
there are the extremeists who take 100 selfies a day and post them for the world to see all over the Internet. This is a slippery slope towards narcissism, self indulgence, and self obsession. These are the folks who need constant reassurement, praise, and "hand-holding" to get through life. Frequently, they can't get it often enough for their own satisfaction from the outside world so they give themselves self satisfaction and approval via the selfie. We all knew people like that way before the Internet....
and finally, celebrities and the like post selfies constantly because it is part of their branding. In essence, they get paid to post them.
Technology and the Internet have not changed human beings at all. They have just given humans the ability to publish their innermost thoughts and tendencies instantly. I'm pretty sure a young Elvis would have taken a picture of "little Elvis" and texted it to Priscilla... I would not have wanted to look too deeply into J Edgar Hoover's browser history.... And I'm pretty sure Thomas Jefferson, while an American hero, was just a little nuts. Who knows what would he would have been into at 2:00am alone with the Internet.....
Humans are much the same as they've always been, the technology is what has empowered and exposed all of our tendencies. We used to be able to hide our predilections. Now they are published, instantly and permanently. There's no putting this genie back in the bottle...
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