Selfies Aren’t So Bad After All

You know, I have a problem with the media calling us conceited, narcissistic, self-promoting and approval seeking from all of the “selfies” we take. I disagree…here are a few reasons…

• I enjoy other people’s selfies. On Instagram I follow a variety of people. Some of them dabble in modeling. They are in the business of being photo-ready. Some of them are absolutely gorgeous creatures-male or female, like a rose, I enjoy looking at beautiful things-beautiful faces are one of them.

• Selfies are a celebration of life-how many times have you taken a selfie when no one else is around? If you are like me, sometimes no one is there to capture you in a special moment or no one thinks to. I think my mom was my last great photographer. After about age 10, my record of pictures dwindled down significantly. Maybe you are in the moment of something you have wanted to do all of your life. Would it make sense to just let it slip away? Life is short, it’s our journey-most of us want to be able to remember it.. One day, if you are lucky enough you can look back at your story. Who wouldn’t enjoy that?

• Selfies boost self-esteem. We all enjoy being caught at a good angle. You know what I mean, from the good side. Even Marilyn Monroe has a side she preferred to be captured from. How many pictures have you had where you are in a half blink, turkey neck pose that someone takes haphazardly and you wonder if they somehow have a secret plot against you? That one ain't going in a frame, I can tell you that.

• We are writing history-that’s right, history. In our current lifespan we are doing something no other generation before us has had the opportunity to do, leave a well-documented written and more importantly pictorial, (even allegorical if I may go that far), record of our lives. How awesome would it have been to have had generations before us leave such a history behind? I wonder what it would have been like if we could read the thoughts of so many people I admire, what would they have said? How would it compare to social norms today and how things have changed, advanced, or in some was even dis-evolved? There are a lot of things to say in pictures that defy any written word. You can’t re-write history when pictures tell a different story. I wonder 100 years from now, what all of our pictures will say about us?