Selfie Esteem

So like, the selfie, we all do it, no matter how hard we try not to turn the front camera on and become self employed as a model and photographer, we all do it. I didn't realise till the other day how conditioned I was to seeing selfies (it's not like I don't see about ten different selfies on Instagram a day), until someone who I don't know followed me and I had to start searching through their pictures for a selfie just so I could see.

I'm not opposed to the selfie, sometimes we really do have a fabulous lip colour or hairstyle that we would like to show off our friends to see. I do it all the time too. I may not post all of them to social networks but anybody going through my phone is going to think I am absolutely obsessed with myself. It's fun.. camera on, lift, pout, flash, next one; camera on, lift, smile, flash, next one; camera on, lift, stare into nothingness, flash. 

At first every time I even thought of taking a selfie I felt like a vampire trying to walk in the sun. Felt like I was going to get burned for it, because we've all heard what they had to say about the selfie. Don't do it. They say that this (especially posting them online in lure of getting above 10 likes, just me?) is pure narcissism. And I realise that after saying the whole 10 likes thing, maybe just maybe they have point. But also when we completely ignore this point they are trying to make, they really don't have a point. When I take a selfie, I am either completely bored out of my mind, I have no one to take this photo of me and I have just GOT to show you my new bangs (I really don't) or I honestly just like the way I look and my Instagram is my Instagram after all, so naturally I just upload it, crop it, filter it, caption it and post it. How does this make me a narcissist? It's basically just a whole bunch of, it's my account, I can do whatever I want with it, it's for me not you anyway.

But at the same time

I don't really believe this whole, I'm posting this for myself stuff that we like to feed ourselves sometimes. Yes I'm posting up the picture because I want to, the application does say 'upload picture' any way but ultimately the I-don't-care-what-no-one-thinks thing is a little hmm. My logic is, if we put anything online it becomes everybody's, it's not just for ourselves otherwise it wouldn't be up there.Would you put up your latest diary entry online, you know, the one about the boy, your secret crush, the one who is dating your friend? No, I didn't think so. So this stuff online, is not just for ourselves. So we care a little what people think, because you had to think about it. You had to think about the right angles, filters, photo tricks and captions to be able to put your best self face forward.

But we have heard all this before right? blah blah blah selfie, blah blah blah, social approval, blah blah blah vain. And to that I say.....

Lu3Lu

Xx