Understanding the Reasons Why People Do Selfie Even Though It Has Negative Side Effects

Understanding The Reasons Why People Do Selfie Even Though It Has Negative Side Effects

A Research Paper Presented to

The English Resource Center

School of Multimedia Arts

Asia Pacific College

Magallanes, Makati

In Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements of the Course

ERESWRIT - Research Writing

Paolo Niccolo T. Hibaler

April 2014

_______________________________________________________________________

Chapter 1

Introduction

A. Background of the study

Selfies are very popular in today's generation. It's like everywhere you go there will always be people getting their camera phones and start projecting and have a selfie. A statistic shows that 70% of the Instagram users log in at least once a day and the number of selfies being posted in Instagram is 79 million photos and wherever these people are, its inevitable for them to take a selfie.

Jerry Saltz of vulture.com wrote an article entitled, "Art at Arm's length: A History of the selfie". In this article he stated that how the selfie changed the aspects of becoming socially interactive to everyone, your privacy and public behavior. He also stated how this new trend vastly differ from the self-portrait paintings when technology has not yet evolved.

Saltz said, "We live in the age of the selfie. A fast self-portrait, made with a smartphone’s camera and immediately distributed and inscribed into a network, is an instant visual communication of where we are, what we’re doing, who we think we are, and who we think is watching". (http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/history-of-the-selfie.html) Selfie got popular because of the evolution of technology and of course the famous actors and actresses do it too. In other words, everyone nowadays has a selfie

Era of selfie just suddenly emerges. Since Instagram was introduced back in 2010, the number of people got into taking photos increased, and of course there were some people who invent things and thus  the selfie was made. Now it is still popular because some people are still in to it and they don't get tired of doing it.

Julia Kligman of thetamnews.com wrote an article entitled, "Selfies emerge from the depths." In this article she stated that people who do selfies are actually not taking it just for the sake of having a photograph, but instead they do it for themselves only.

Kligman said, "If you’ve caught yourself taking selfies before, you can justify it by using the photo as a means of a mirror. Of course no one wants to walk around with messed up hair or something in their teeth, so if you haven’t been blessed by the presence of a mirror, snapping a picture could suffice as a makeshift reflection of your current state" (http://thetamnews.org/2012/04/selfies-emerge-from-the-depths/ ). The main reason why people do selfies is because they want to look good in the photograph,its like their own mirror, instead of just plainly fixing yourself first before going outside the house.

In order to take a selfie, you need a tool first. First of all, in order for you to take a photograph of yourself, you obviously need a camera, it can be any camera you want, but in today's generation camera phones are "in" nowadays because it's handy and you can easily post your selfie with just a click of a button.

John Paul Titlow wrote an article in readwrite.com entitled "#Me: Instagram Narcissism and the Scourge of the Selfie". In his article he stated that we are narcissistic people but with the help of the social media it just got worse now the social media is swarming with overly-narcissistic people.

Titlow said, "As it turns out, Instagram is a breeding ground for many people's most narcissistic tendencies. It's a reality that comes into sharp focus as soon as you step outside of your circle of friends and look at what everybody else is posting. Turns out that as a group, Instagrammers are a pretty self-absorbed bunch"(http://readwrite.com/2013/01/31/instagram-selfies-narcissism#awesm=~ozGMJU27uBk5Pm).  I guess we could say that social media has to be blamed for this selfie mayhem, but in some other point we were to be blamed too, because if people didn't get obsessed with it maybe social media wouldn't be full of selfies.

Now comes the downside of selfie. Selfie is not all about beauty and fame, it also has side effects along with it from the start you posted your first selfie in the social media. The first side effect of selfie is that many people get bashed or mocked in the social media, some people comment really hurtful things that would really make you look bad in the eyes of another person.

In an article entitled "Generation Me - The Downside of taking Selfies" by Chris Gearing of gearingup.com he stated that, people should really limit the photos they post in order to avoid being cyber bullied because many people misunderstand the photo and they speculate what kind of person you are and they spread it, which in fact is not true.

Gearing said, "Taking pictures of ourselves can be wonderful but only within certain limits. Creating an endless online photostream of yourself may appeal to some, but it can border on self-involved for the rest of the world. While we love to see occasional shots of you and your life, selfies can become a daily reminder of what you value (a.k.a. what you look like in the mirror)".(http://gearingup.com/_blog/Gearing_Up_Blog/post/generation_me_the_downsides_of_taking_selfies/)

 The key in avoiding being cyber bullied is you should learn how control yourself, learn about yourself, surround yourself with great people and don't let people define who you really are, that's your job.

There are many downsides in taking a selfie. In Rosa Silverman's article in telegraph.co.uk she said, "But when they fail to attract the desired attention or approval this can damage their self confidence, it is feared.". (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/10261422/Selfie-photographs-trend-puts-children-at-risk-of-abuse.html) However, despite the fact that there are downsides in taking a selfie, the researcher observes that it is still popular these days and everyone still does it, even though some people get shamed for it just because they posted a picture of themselves, that's not mean that't who they really are, do not judge them immediately. Hence, selfie does not only make people beautiful and famous it can also destroy a person's image.

Having background knowledge about selfie, it may help the readers to understand more about people on why some still are doing selfies even though they are already being shamed and how will it affect those they shame on social media and learn how to regulate the selfie they post on the internet.

Instead of discussing the different of effects of selfie to the society, this study focuses mainly on why people do selfie even though it has negative side effects.

B. Statement of the problem

     The study aims to answer the question:

1. What are the reasons why people do selfie even though it has negative side effects?

C. Significance of the study

Students - This study will be ab;e to help the students today to understand how dangerous it is for them to post something that everyone will dislike. Students today are so updated in what's new today that they don't even think of the consequences that it can give to them once they get involved with it and sometimes they will regret it once the damage has been done to them.

Parents -  This study will be able to help the parents today in understanding why people do selfie even though they get shamed for it. The parents should really read this study because in some way they will be the ones telling their children in what to do and what no to do in social media because they are the only ones who can guide their children on what will be the consequences of their actions if they don't think about it thoroughly.

Society - This study will be able to help the society today because at some point they do selfies anyway and some times they misjudge people too, the reasons that will be presented in this study will be able to help them understand the effects they are giving to other people once they judge others immediately and of course to let them realize the effect they can get when they post selfies too much

Future researchers - The data that will be presented in this study will be a great help for the future researchers who will conduct a related study about selfie. Since there are so many studies that can be conducted about selfie, in some way this study can be their basis and broaden their ideas towards the study.

D. Scope and Delimitation

The focus of the study is to discuss the reasons why people do selfie even though it has negative side effects. The study will no longer discuss what society has to say about the people who do selfies . Hence, the study will focus mainly on selfie itself and the negative side effects of selfie . Due to time constraints, the data that will be presented in this study are from reliable sources that are valid and useful to the study on why people do selfie even though they get shamed for it, thus the researcher will no longer conduct his own experiment.

E. Materials and Methods

The researcher gathers information to find out about the views of people on people who do selfie to why they get to the point wherein they hurt somebody just because they posted a picture of themself. The materials used in the study are gathered from various reliable articles from the internet in order for the researcher to collect the views of other people on why people do selfie even though they get shamed for it.

F. Definition of terms Selfie - A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to social media website. (http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/selfie)

     

 

Chapter 2 

Discussion

What are the reasons why people do selfie even though it has negative side effects?

I. Definition of a Selfie

Before even selfie got popular these days, taking a picture of yourself was already introduced to the people even though smartphones and Instagram were no less than a camera with a film and photo album. But now everything changed . People now get excited to use their smartphones just because they are going to take a selfie.

A very precise definition of selfie is presented by Kasmin Hernandez and Shikah Shah in her article in timeofindia.indiatimes.com entitled  "Selfies: All you need to know" they stated in their article that the selfies that people always post will not feel noticed if it wasn't for the people they know in their social media, thus in order for them to be noticed they must do selfies first.

Hernandez and Shah said that, "a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam, and uploaded to a social media website, it could also describe our self-absorption with the social media - the need to put up our 'status' , 'state of mind' or self-taken and self-edited pictures in the virtual space"(http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/personal-tech/computing/Selfies-All-you-need-to-know/articleshow/27077635.cms?referral=PM). 

 It is very accurate that how this meaning is already defining what people look like when they do their selfie routine and how people think of them.

II. Negative Effects

A. Narcissism

Whenever we think of selfie, we immediately think of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection in Greek Mythology, thus the term Narcissism was coined. When people started taking selfies and flooding the social media with it, people started naming them as narcissistic and telling other people that is selfie is a form of narcissism and the should stop doing it already.

In an article entitled "#Selfies: Narcissism or Self-Exploration" by Pamela Rutledge, Ph.D in psychologytoday.com. She discussed that selfie isn't new today it's been used for ages, it's just that because of technology, selfie finally got the spotlight and got noticed by everyone, and now almost everyone is whipping their smartphones in order to take a selfie

Rutledge said, "Selfies are pictures you take of yourself tagged with #selfie or just with #me. They are showing up all across social networks like Facebook or Instagram—often but not exclusively posted by women. As the numbers and frequency of selfies increase, the phenomenon has garnered attention. In our globally connected 24/7 world, anything that gets attention, gets talked about"(http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media/201304/selfies-narcissism-or-self-exploration).

Not only the women got in to selfie, men too, because of the frequent posting of selfie by women, men got curious and tried it out to know the feeling of having a selfie and being noticed by everyone.

B. Low Self-Esteem

As we all know in order for us to take a selfie we need a first a smartphone or camera and a heaping spoonful of confidence in order for us to have the courage to post our selfie in the social media face the people that can judge you easily just by staring at your selfie, they can easily tell what kind of person you are.

In an article that that was written by BritChick Paris in huffingtonpost.co.uk entitled

"Are Selfies a Sign of Low Self Esteem - The Greater the 'Pose' the Greater the Desire For Others' Attention". She stated in her article that selfie has already been part of everyone's daily routine, whether the person just woke up, eating breakfast or getting ready for work, there's no stopping them in taking selfies in everything they do and they don't care whether someone likes it or not for them what's important is that they are proud of their selfie.

Paris said, "A friend's daughter takes tens of selfies a day mainly from her bathroom. She is a sweet sensitive little girl and it is so obvious that she is seeking something from the mirror, from the photo that she is lacking deep down. There has never been so much pressure to be perfectly beautiful and add in the selfie to the mix it is a recipe for low self-confidence. Teens are taking more and more selfies and in the most ridiculous of circumstances, including grandparent's funeral"(http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/britchick-paris/selfies-low-selfesteem_b_4731451.html). 

It just shows that majority of the people who get really conscious and has really low self-confidence are the teenagers. In that stage they get to be more conscious about what they look in the outside because that's the stage where they tend to get a lot of peers and peer pressure they tend to get the feeling that they are being ignored just because of their appearance and they are scared of being alone, so for them to gain enough confidence they decided to do a selfie which in return may or may not boost their confidence at all.

C. Attention Seeking

Some people do selfies just for fun, it's not bad if you just posted 5-7 selfies in a day, things will only get out of hand once you post a selfie every minute in a day, from then on people will start thinking that you post these selfies just because you wanted to be noticed by everybody.

In an article written by Emma Fisher in feminspire.com entitled "The Rise of The Attention Whore" she said in her article that, stereo-typically speaking women are labeled as attention seeking just so that they would stop posting selfies that are truly annoying and disturbing for the other people.But let's generalize it, men too are guilty of being attention seeking in selfie, just like when they post too much of their toned muscles, that's attention seeking too, it's okay if you just want to see how worked hard for it, but a muscle selfie everyday is just wrong. It's not that what they do is already attention seeking, it's when it gets out of hand and getting exaggerated already that you do it just for the sake of likes that's when they are already attention seeking.

Fisher said, "While the internet can undoubtedly be triggering and has spawned some worrying trends, it has also increasingly provided a forum for girls and women to speak up about their experiences and share them with others, providing a supportive community at times when they may be feeling isolated. Sometimes it can be difficult to talk to friends and family about mental health issues; for many young women, the anonymity of the internet provides a safe haven to speak out about their experiences"(http://feminspire.com/the-rise-of-the-attention-whore/). 

This quote is not only for women, it's for everybody who can't truly express themselves whether your young or an adult, a man or a woman. It's not really that bad to post a selfie, if you just want to be noticed, it is actually good for you that you are sociable in the social media, as long as you know what you post, you know that it won't hurt you or anybody else then it's fine to be noticed for once in a while. Everyone wants to be noticed anyway and you know that they also struggled the same way you did. Let's just minimize the exaggerated selfies because that's the reason why some people get called attention seeking.

III. Kinds of selfie

A. Gym Selfie

Today, many people started going to the gym to lose some calories and be a health buff. After an hour or less, look around the gym, if you spot someone standing in front of a big mirror and you thought he's just standing there doing nothing but once you take a closer look, you'll see him holding up his smartphone and taking a selfie. That's a gym selfie.

In an article entitled "Rise of the gym selfie" by Lou Heinrich in dailylife.com.au she stated that most of the people who go to the gym doesn't forget to take a selfie in front of the big mirror in the gym. Whenever they take a break for 30 minutes. There are two possible meanings why people do gym selfies: (a) It's either the one who took the selfie wants everyone to know how disciplined he has been since he was working out (b) or for some it's some sort of boasting to everyone how fit that person is, it's like telling other people that they are not physically fit and weak.

Heinrich said, "A smug gym selfie doubles as a visual brag then, declaring with false nonchalance, "I'm better than you." Unhealthy people are perceived as lazy and undisciplined, so by posting a photo at the gym we are sharing our moral worth"(http://www.dailylife.com.au/health-and-fitness/dl-fitness/rise-of-the-gym-selfies-20130731-2qyju.html). 

In other words, some people interpret gym selfies are belittling them and they have no chance to achieve what the body that they see in the selfie, but for some it is a form of motivation for them to be more athletic for a change and be a health buff. Still the picture's meaning depends on what people interprets.

B. Belfie (Butt Selfie)

Obviously, women today are the most addicted when it comes to selfie. I think they've tried every single kind of selfie that the social media has to offer. But there's this one selfie that is really inappropriate and bothering. The Belfie or butt selfie. It started when Kim Kardashian posted this kind of selfie when she gave birth to her baby and now, everyone followed her footsteps.

An article entitled, "The Case Against Butt Selfies" Erin Vargo in acculturated.com, she stated that

the reason why women, mostly, got into butt selfies is that because of the influence of other people, specially the celebrities they look up to. They think that if they post a butt selfie just like the other celebrities, they would also be noticed too, but what they didn't know is that, yes people noticed them in the internet but in a way that they are disgusted and disrespected.

Vardo said, "And yet, the problem with butt selfies and all manner of obsession with the female backside is old as time: It’s the objectification of women. The preference for booties over brains is hardly progress. We need more female engineers. We need more female CEOs. We need more female Senators, rocket scientists, Nobel laureates, and humanitarians. Here’s the greatest part: It’s okay for women—even professional women—to find their maximum potential in the gluteal realm, too. But it should be in conjunction with other qualities"(http://acculturated.com/the-case-against-butt-selfies/).

The problem about these butt selfies is that people will now think that these people, specially women, that they are unprofessional and they have no direction in life, but in real life they are actually professionals, who just do butt selfies for fun and maybe for relieving stress. 

C. After Sex selfie

We all have our own private lives. We don't want anyone to know what we've been doing with our partner. But today, I really don't know why, but people started posting their selfies with their partners, in beds. And people started wondering why do they even post these kind of selfie anuway?

In an article entitled "Please Spare Us Your #AfterSexSelfies" by Kelly Faircloth in jezebel.com, she said that the people who these kinds of selfies are braggart, one who boasts their achievements in life that nobody cares. They want to tell people how perfect their life is, but what they don't know is that it has different effects on everybody who see those after sex selfies. And the people who see these posts, they will think that they are insensitive, obnoxious and behaving badly.

Faircloth said, "Let's start by pointing out what everyone should've learned in the first grade, which is that nobody likes a braggart. How nice for you that you indulged in a bit of afternoon delight, but it's really a bit much to disclose that to your entire circle of social media pals"

(http://jezebel.com/please-spare-us-your-aftersex-selfies-1556853854). 

First of all, I really don't know the significance in posting this kind of selfie, it's like your posting your private life and bragging it to everybody that you had a great time with your partner, which in fact nobody cares, nobody wants to know the whole story of your life, everybody just wants to see funny and inspiring pictures in Instagram not a diary about yourself. Always be sensitive of what you post.

IV. Motivation of the selfie

A. Gym selfie

There are many reasons why people do gym selfies, maybe they just want to tell everybody that they've already changed both physical and mental aspects, they also want to tell that they've worked hard to achieve what they are today and that the other people can do it too.

In an article in fitday.com written by Dani Russel entitled "Should You Take Selfies At The Gym?", she stated stated that, she,too, has many gym selfie because she was also conscious of her weight because of what she sees in the internet that people are going to the gym and the outcome is that they become physically and mentally fit. So that means, gym srlselfie is somewhat a chain reaction for everybody to get in to working out because they also want to have a gym selfie but in order for them to do that is they have to achieve a body that is worth taking a selfie.

Russel said, "The scale said I hadn't made any progress, but that mirror certainly did. That day, I went home and stood in front of a mirror, looking for that little muscle again, and I took a picture. From that day forward, I relied on my "selfies" to track my progress more accurately than my scale ever could"(http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/should-you-take-selfies-at-the-gym.html#b). 

In other words, some people use gym selfies as their motivation and a record of how they have changed and how hard they have worked but for some it's like they are boasting their bodies in the internet and make people bad for themselves because of how they lazy they are. But I think it's how you interpret the image, then they are the ones who give the meaning of it.

B. Belfie (Butt Selfie)

One thing that I noticed about belfie is that only girls post it, it would be weird and funny if a guy posted a butt seflie though, I think the reason why women do this selfie is that they think it's a competition for them. They re competing each other to see who has the most beautiful 'behind' or maybe its just for fun and of course the influence of the Hollywood stars.

In an article entitled "The complete History of The Butt Selfie" written by Molly McHugh in dailydot.com she stated that, all this butt selfie mayhem has come down to one little cause - the celebrities, but what they did has big effect on everyone, not to mention on the women particularly. With just a post of their behind, women all over the world quickly tried to do it too, and they succeeded, they got more likes than the usual selfie and to think that they got popular. For some they take this in a very serious way, to think that it slipped their minds to have butt implants just to say that they have a very firm and nice-looking behind, but everyone thinks that this is getting out of hand and already exaggerated to the point that you want to change a part of your body just to look good in one picture that no one will probably like.

McHugh said, "celebrities posting these types of photos encourages their fans to do the same: Despite the huge difference in followers, we have the same tools as the butt-selfie-posting famous—the same social platforms, the same filters or editing apps, the same camera phones, and the same (at least, at its most basic) body part"(http://www.dailydot.com/lol/butt-selfie-history/).  

This quote says it all. Women got motivated in to doing the butt selfie, they think that they need to beat the other women's belfies, well in fact they are all the same to everybody, one thing that only changed is how the woman posed and how big is her behind. I hope some women don't cross their mind to have an implant just to look better to other women in the social media. Always remember natural is always beautiful. 

C. After sex selfie

I think this kind of selfie is not a very good idea to be doing. because first of all, you're exploiting your own privacy, what if one night someone went in to your room do something to the both of you? Second is that it is not pleasing to the eyes for everyone to see that you've had sex with your partner, nobody cares about that, they care less about the lives of people and what they do privately.

In an article by Kelly Conniff in time.com entitled "#AfterSex: The Instagram Selfie We Don't Need" she stated that, maybe some those photos are not really an after sex selfie, maybe they also got jealous with other after sex selfies that they also did that kind of selfie but not really engaging in sex, they just want to show, maybe, that they've already scored, that they have reached their manhood and womanhood wherein maybe because of peers and those dares that are really ridiculous to do.

Conniff said, "Of course it’s not like there’s anything new about showing off your relationship bliss. After all, couples around the world have been posting cutsey photos and status updates referencing “the boy” and “the gf” for years. But in the era of the groupie (and the belfie and the lelfie and who even knows what else), the #AfterSex selfie is a way of pushing digital boundaries (and boasting) to a new level. Anyone who sees one of the better versions of these photos will realize how amazing you are, how fulfilled you are in life and love, and damn if you don’t look good in the process"(http://time.com/45464/aftersex-selfie-instagram-trend/). 

Now these quote really sums it all, they just want to document the after sex just to say that they have already gone to the next level of being boyfriend/girlfriend, but then again don't be so sure about things that you see in the internet, remember you don't see what they really do behind those computers, maybe, just like what I've said earlier, they are not really couples they just want to say that they have already matured and ready for a relationship, I think this kind of selfie really has to stop, not only you're lying about, if ever you're really lying, and you are boasting at the same time, nobody wants to know that you've matures through sex, nobody cares about it, remember what you do in the internet just to look mature or perfect will always be an immature thing to do. 

Chapter 3

Summary, Conclusions, Recommendations

Summary

This paper is an effort to find out why people do selfie even though it has negative side effects on them.

The research design used in this study is the descriptive research method wherein data from interviews, articles and studies found online were used to answer the research question posed. The research findings are the following:

1. The definition of selfie for everybody is that the one who takes it just wants to be noticed in the internet.

2. People who do selfie don't have a sense of control when ti comes to selfie. They think it's fun to post every minute f your face in the social media, what they don't know is that that's the reason why other people hate people who do selfies.

3. People give meaning to their pictures just by judging them once they look at them, then the people who see it will also believe that was also the meaning of the image.

4. Narcissism is one of the negative side effects of doing a selfie, people stereotyped it whenever they see a selfie, caught in the act doing a selfie in public, they immediately tell others how narcissistic that person is.

Conclusions

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions are drawn:

1. Selfie has two effects in a person's self-esteem, (a) people may say horrible things about your picture and can destroy your personal image and thus it can highly affect your confidence, (b) for some it is a way of boosting their confidence.

2. People in the internet may define as an attention seeker just by saying that it's because of how many pictures you post in day.

3. There are many kinds of selfie; the most disturbing is the belfie (butt selfie) that women love to do whenever they feel lie someone's belittling their behind and it is because influences too.

4. Your love for your body is mainly the reason why gym selfie also got popular in the social media. They use selfie as a documentation of how they have changed but for some it is merely just boasting their through internet.

Recommendations

After coming up with the conclusions, the researcher hereby makes the following suggestions/recommendations:

1. Never ever post something that will destroy you and your image, it can highly affect you as a person.

2. Limit yourselves whenever you post a selfie, people will start hating you if you flood them with your face in their newsfeed.

3. Don't do something immature in the internet specially those ridiculous kinds of selfies that will not even make you popular for a bit and don't be influenced by other people too.

4. Think before you post. You'll never know that you've already hurt some one with one of your selfie. It can highly affect the psychological and emotional mind of an individual.

References

Jerry Saltz (2014, January 27).  Art at Arm’s Length: A History of the Selfie retrieved March 27,2014 from http://www.vulture.com/2014/01/history-of-the-selfie.html

Julia Kligman (2012, April 5). Selfie Emerges From The Depths retrieved March 27, 2014 from http://thetamnews.org/2012/04/selfies-emerge-from-the-depths/

John Paul Titlow (2013, Januray 31). #Me: Instagram Narcissism and the Scourge of the Selfie retrieved Mrch 27, 2014 from http://readwrite.com/2013/01/31/instagram-selfies-narcissism#awesm=~oB9YJHnXs7pydi

Chris Gearing (2013, August 9). Generation Me - The Downside of Taking Selfies retrieved March 27, 2014 from http://gearingup.com/_blog/Gearing_Up_Blog/post/generation_me_the_downsides_of_taking_selfies/

Rosa Silverman (2013, August 23).  'Selfie' photographs trend 'puts children at risk of abuse' retrieved March 27, 2014 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/social-media/10261422/Selfie-photographs-trend-puts-children-at-risk-of-abuse.html

Oxford Dictionaries. Definition of Selfie retrieved March 27, 2014 from http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/selfie

Kasmin Fernandes and Shikah Shah (2013, December 8). Selfies: All You Need To Know retrieved April 3, 2014 from http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/personal-tech/computing/Selfies-All-you-need-to-know/articleshow/27077635.cms?referral=PM

Pamela Rutledge, Ph.D (2013, April 18). #Selfies: Narcissism or Self-Exploration? retrieved April 6, 2014 from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/positively-media/201304/selfies-narcissism-or-self-exploration

BriChick Paris (2014, February 5). Are Selfies a Sign of Low Self Esteem - The Greater the 'Pose' the Greater the Desire For Others' Attention retrieved April 6, 2014 from http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/britchick-paris/selfies-low-selfesteem_b_4731451.html

Emmy Fisher (2013, June 24). The Rise Of Attention Seeking Whore retrieved April 6, 2014 from http://feminspire.com/the-rise-of-the-attention-whore/ 

Lou Heinrich (2013, July 31). Rise of the gym selfies retrieved from April 9, 2014 from http://www.dailylife.com.au/health-and-fitness/dl-fitness/rise-of-the-gym-selfies-20130731-2qyju.html

Erin Vargo (2014, March 25). The case against butt selfies retrieved from April 11, 2014 from http://acculturated.com/the-case-against-butt-selfies/

Kelly Faircloth (2014, February 4). Please spare us your #AfterSex selfies retrieved April 11, 2014 from http://jezebel.com/please-spare-us-your-aftersex-selfies-1556853854

Dani Russell. Should You Take Selfies At The Gym? retrieved April 11, 2014 from http://www.fitday.com/fitness-articles/fitness/should-you-take-selfies-at-the-gym.html#b

Molly McHugh (2014, January 8). The Complete Internet History Of The Butt Selfie retrieved April 11 2014 from http://www.dailydot.com/lol/butt-selfie-history/

Kelly Conniff (2014, April 1). #AfterSex: The Instagram Selfie We Don't Need retrieved April 11, 2011 from http://time.com/45464/aftersex-selfie-instagram-trend/

Blog post #8: Selfie-Esteem

In order for you to have a good selfie that everyone will like and compliment, you must have first the confidence to do it. You must be ready for the positive and negative comments that they will say about your photo, if you're not ready for that kind of approach then you should gather your confidence first.

According to an article entitled "Are selfies good or bad for our self-esteem?" by Jessica Yadegaran in mercurynews.com, she said that, in short span of time, selfies have become our very own virtual diary. But some think that it is only turning our nation into a narcissistic country, but if it is done in moderation it has positive outcome for everyone, specially for teens, who struggle more in expressing who they really are in their current state and afraid to express themselves in their own very unique way. She interviewed a woman named Stephanie Eads, who made selfie a hobby. Stepahnie also said that if ever one of her friend is in a bad mood she immediately send that person a goofy face of her self to make the person happy, and it's her way of not being alone when she does selfies. Also John Casey, who said that, for him selfie is a ritual that he loves because he discovers more about himself. He also said that it it made introverted people to talk to him. Selfies can damage our self-esteem heavily, we are busy portraying someone else and we forget who we really are because we portray another person that was accepted by the society. Pamela Rutlidge said that we are the director, producer,  curator and actor of our very own story and teenagers are the most common story tellers in the internet world. A fifteen-year-old named Brandon Garnsey said that he likes to put inspiring song lyrics or quotes from movies in to his selfies, he said that it motivates him. It just means that selfies can help alleviate the person's mood and some times it motivates that person.

This article interests me because it gave positive feedback about selfie that can really alter the mind-set of those what normally people think about selfie. What they don't know that it can also benefit us and others for those who are stereotype that selfie will just make us narcissistic but I guess we can't tell what to think and what not to think.

Jessica Yadegaran said, "Some think it's turning us into a nation of narcissists, but psychologists say that in moderation, selfies are a feel-good and often creative way, particularly for teens, to chronicle their lives and emotions and express their personalities. And people who post selfies assert that they can have an effect on their moods and self-esteem."

What I have to say about this quote is that, yes selfie can make us narcissistic but it's only natural for us human beings to be like that because we love ourselves and what people don't know is that there is a good side of doing a selfie which they don't see, what they all see is the negative side of it.

Sometimes it's not the picture we're afraid to get criticisms, it's our face that we're afraid of. Yes we look beautiful in the picture, but if you think about it, will people still accept me for who I am when they meet me in person? Or will they prefer the altered one in the internet?

I came across this article that says a lot about herself and how she struggled, the title is "On selfies, Self-esteem and learning to love my nose" by Anne Theriault in thoughtcatalog.com, she said that she struggled through her life about her nose and how it look misplaced. Sometimes she does selfies by covering her face with her hair so that it would cover her nose, and how she thought of getting a nose job because she felt like no one likes her or some people laughs at her because of her nose. It really made her self-esteem decrease that way. But as she thinks thoroughly, she realized that, yes she alter her face in the picture, she can do make-up tricks that can,somehow, minimize the size of her nose but in reality it doesn't change the way her nose looks and she feels like a liar and manipulator whenever she posts her picture in social media, thought she doesn't use Photoshop to enhance it, she just find the right angles to make her nose appealing than distracting to people who see it and now she is slowly learning to love herself and her nose because for her we put too much interest on the beauty outside of a woman and not the beauty inside of her.

This article interest me because I hope that people will now realize how more important the beauty inside of every one of us than the beauty on the outside. It's like people are putting up a mask and try to hide who they really are because they are afraid to be judged and not accepted by the society, but what they really don't know is that they will also not be accepted if they weren't true to themselves.

Anne Theriault said, "The problem is that we put way too much emphasis on women’s appearance, and not enough on their thoughts or character or actions. The problem is that we criticize people for posting selfies “for attention,” but don’t ever talk about why those people might want, maybe even need, positive attention paid to their looks."

This quote goes for both male and female. We strive too much to make ourselves good-looking on the outside because we think that that's what people want and we often give it to them. But what we don't know is that they also want us to be ourselves and they also want us to show who we really are even though they can only see us in the internet and in that way we can gain more self-esteem just by acting natural.

All of us had struggled and had our self-esteem pretty reach a pretty low level that at one point in our life we don't want to face other people or become introverts. But we should always find ways to boost our self-esteem, do selfies, it may be embarrassing at first but once you get the hang of it it will just be a breeze. Though there will always be stereotypes in the internet world and say you're narcissistic and vain, don't let it get in to you, it's just natural for people to say that to you because they're jealous because they can't do what you had started.

Blog post #7: Gym Selfie = Cyber Bullying?

As what I have said in my previous blog post, not only the women were the ones who do selfies, men are guilty too. They do selfies too, specially in the gym it's either they want to brag their toned body or they just do it for people to be inspired to go to the gym. Which one is it?

According to an article by Kendra Y. Mims in sheknows.com entitled "Do your gym selfies make you a cyber bully?" she stated that the pictures we see in Instagram or Facebook with people in the gym is called fitspiration, some people get inspired by it and go to the gym too, but for some people it's a way of saying to them that they are fat or in other words fat-shaming. Like for instance Maria Kang, a fitness enthusiast who got banned from Facebook for posting a picture of herself with her three kids with the question: "What's your excuse?" For her she did that to inspire other women to start a healthy living and be fit, most of the people got inspired but many disliked her photo.

This article interests me because it gives us a message with two very different meanings. First of all, why would you post it in the first place anyway? Is it for you to inspire other people or you posted it to look down on people? Second, always be mindful of what you post, you'll never know you're already making someone depressed just because of a picture.

Kendea Y. Mims said, "On the flip side, fitness enthusiasts like Kang or others who use social media to show their toned bodies that they've worked hard for may experience fit-shaming for the way they look. Some may frown upon them for showing their bodies and accuse them of making other women feel bad about their self-image."

This quote says it all for those who get inspired and shamed of a picture. Just like what I said in my previous post, a picture is very powerful, it can make the audience be inspired or appreciate it and at the same time it

can also make other people mad or dislike your picture. So think before you post.

With this article I think there are many reasons why some peopl get aggravated with selfies, specially gym selfies. But why do people still post this kinds of selfies anyway?

In an article I have read entitled "Should you take selfies at the gym?" by Dani Russel in fitday.com she said that she,too,was guilty of gym selfies and wiht mirrors, she said that mirrors help you monitor of how you look after a hard day's work and it can really improve you because if you see a bit fat in your arms, you will be encouraged to work hard more to attain the body you were aiming for. She also said that never ever do a gym selfie wherein there is another person in your background, always be aware of who is around you so that no one will get the impression of you that you only go to the gym just so you could do a selfie and show other people that you've been working out and the truth is that you're not, we don't want that kind of impression from us don't we? Lastly she said that you can use your selfies as a monitor the progress you are making just always remember to be mindful of what you post and don't post all of you're gym selfies so that no one could get depressed and stepped on.

I think this article answers my first article in this blog, the reason why people do this kind of selfie is just to monitor on their progress and not to brag of how they look and specially not to step on other people's image. It is up to you on how you will interpret the photo for yourself.

Kendra Y. Mims said, "However, like all things, it's important to be mindful of your surroundings and considerate of others before whipping out your phone and taking a selfie, especially in public."

This quote is for all those who take gym selfies, besides that you should be aware of the people around in the gym before taking a selfie, you should also be mindful of the people in the social media after you post your gym selfie, will they be inspired of it or will you only make them more depressed of their image.

Gym selfies can benefit us and other people, but some people interpret it the other way around and as a result of that they will get mad at you and they feel they are being mocked because they think that you're boasting your body to them and think that you're bullying them which is completely the way around. So let's all make sure that we're not stepping on someone's feelings before posting your picture or better yet don't post it instead just keep it to yourself.

Blog post #6: Teens' selfies are for approval?

If we're just going to accept that selfie only teaches people how to be narcissistic, then we should also consider what will be the effect of it, specially to the teenagers, who got addicted to this trend if the community change the way how they look at the teenagers who do selfies.

In an article entitled "Dark Undercurrents of teenage girls' selfie post" theage.com.au by Olympia Nelson she stated that the reason why we see the mainstream pout-lips selfie and the ever famous mirror shots is because the girls who post these kinds of selfies is they over-think about how they are going to look sexy in the picture or is it enough to garner a thousand likes, for them it is like a Hunger Games style of competition wherein they have to beat others by having more likes than their opponent. Even the reserved girls are trying to strike a sexy pose, but they should be careful though, because they are not 'qualified' in this kind of competition because people who know this reserved girl will think that she is just making a trend or boasting her change of style in life, which can be painful for her if she fails to be like the 'pros' in this competition. It takes a lot of confidence to able to do this kind of selfies. These kind of selfies is like peering through a window because the girls who do these kind of selfies is almost naked, and they do this to seek approval from their peers but why they don't know is that they are not aiming for joy but to score a position.

This article interests me because it made sense to me why girls take mirror shots with just their underwear is
because they want to achieve what boys see and it's pornography. They post almost-naked photos of themselves to see that if their enough to fill the fantasies of boys, which for me is absolutely wrong and inappropriate because I think girls who do that don't know that they look like porn stars already because they are busy trying to achieve the boys' taste for girls.

Olympia Nelson said, "The real problem relates to conformity. Kids are compelled to act the stereotype, because those who opt out commit themselves to social leprosy. Social media doesn't need adult control. What we need is some good taste."

This quote practically tells us that many of us choose to do mainstream things in the internet but what we don't know is that what we're doing already disgusts the people who see it, and we're not aware of it because we pay too much attention on what we normally see and we don't do things that can benefit instead we do things that will destroy us.

From this point of view, girls overdo things just to get the approval of the society specially the boys. They want to be the one to fulfill the boys' taste on girls. But I think there is something that we don't see and we just think that's it's normal either.

I came across an article entitled "Modern Musings: Selfies - just a bit harmless fun?"  by Charl Laubscher and Rebecca Kamm in nzherald.co.nz, in this article the authors gave their own perspective on what selfie is.

Rebecca Kamm said, selfie is like a high-school popularity contest on steroids and as the selfie develop, there are now genres of selfie, the gym selfie, without-make-up selfie and so many more, but for her they are just wasting their time in scrutinizing their faces and check for an acceptance note from the social media. Whether we like it or not the teenage girls will always be self-absorbed and desperate for the approvals of the society and there is nothing we can do about what's happening in our society right all we can do is just, sit back and watch them.

Charl Laubscher said, he said according to a survey by Samsung, it showed that 30 percent of the photos
that were taken, I was surprised with this information, by men. They have the same problem with the women too - they want acceptance from their peers too. That's why most of the men post their pictures topless when their in the gym because they want to know inform the society that they have changed and now that they have gained a lot of confidence to face the society.

This article interests me because the ideas of the authors were different but when read thoroughly they come to one point - everyone is guilty of doing selfies and they all have one goal of why they do this trend, they want to be accepted because they have gone through a lot of changes and they've gained enough confidence to face them and be proud of who they are now.

Rebecca Kamm said, " It's probably not a trend that encourages them to spend hours every week scrutinising their own faces and bodies on a screen, then hungrily checking in for positive validation."

This quote tells us what was the point of the two authors in their article, everyone will always be seeking for approval from anyone. That's what we all want anyway, even the people who don't do selfies, they also want to be accepted by their peers but they do it differently and more discreet.

I think for me, the trend today is not selfie itself, but the attitude we have for seeking of approval from everyone. Selfie is just the tool we use to send everybody what we are today, how musch we have changed over the past past years of being in shell and not coming out because we are afraid to be judged, bullied and hated by everyone.

Blog post #5: Know your self-ie

Photos are very powerful when it comes to expression. Sometimes it depicts what the photographer wants us to see but other people see it just as a plain picture of a woman facing the camera but what they don't know is that there is more than meets the eye.

I have read an article in tulsaworld.com entitled "Selfies and the mind-set of those who post them" by Bravetta Hassell, she interviewed a woman named Ashleigh Stafford and Ashleigh said that before even the mainstream social media sites today were born, she used to do selfie using a digital camera and she posts it in MySpace but back then she didn't post anything that would make her be a laughing stock in the community, instead she posted pictures of herself with her snakes, when she changed the color of her hair and she even shows off her tattoos in MySpace and she doesn't post everyday or every hour, she only post pictures when she has a new look or on special occasions but that was her when she was a teenager but now that she is an adult, yes she still post pictures of herself, but she is now mindful what he post in the social media because she knows it is very dangerous not to filter your pictures first because it can be used against you she also said that she's not posting pictures of herself just to let the world that that's her in the picture, she posts picture to tell everybody what kind of person is she on the inside because for her taking selfies is taking pictures of her moments in her life. Another individual that Bravetta interviewed is Carla Gregory, Gregory said she never paid attention to what selfie is until comes the time that she was forced to do it because she travels a lot and she wants to capture her priceless moments of her life in a place she visited for the first time, for her the selfies she made around the world is a reminder for her that she already transformed into a more independent, fearless, strong and adventurous she is today and she shares it with her friends and family.

Gregory and Stafford stated an opinion on how the teens post their selfies, they said those moments are not even worth sharing in the social media, the duck faces, the mirror selfie and worst the booty selfie. They should start reliving the moment of their lives and start making memorable moments because they can only be a teenager once.

This article interests me because it made me think that I should start making memorable moments of my life too. I can only be a teenager once anyway so, why not, we shouldn't waste our time doing silly selfies we should make the most out of it and when we grow up, become responsible adults we can be proud to show the memories we had when we are teenagers to our future children and maybe they would the same.

Bravetta Hassell said, "Take the guy on Twitter showing off his six-pack in one of those notorious bathroom selfies, or Rihanna on Instagram in a super close-up shot. Her hand is over her mouth for some reason, and all you see is her eyes. The eyes and the six-pack might be the focal point, but the message is clear: This is about me."

This quote really says it all about selfie. It's all about you. You control yourself, your body and your mind. No one can stop you from taking it. Your selfies an actually be your own 'picture-journal' of yourself that you've already changed from being teenager to a full-grown adult.

Now at this point of view selfie for other people is like a reminder for them how much they have grown for the past years and be proud of what they are now and be happy with it because they fulfilled something that can never be taken away from them. But some people are still newbie in selfie and what they do is just take photos of themselves in a mirror and that's it but what they don't know is what their selfie is all about.


I have read an article about knowing your selfie entitled, "Plato: Know Thy Selfie" by Dominic Basulto in bigthink.com  states that there is another how selfie became so popular, he said that it is a tchnological version of "Know Thyself" by the Greek Philosophers,one of which was Plato, Plato said that it is impossible to understand the world without knowing yourself first. But maybe this technology that we have today is giving us unique insights and give us the power to document our memorable moment and we're just using it the wrong way. All of us struggle to know our identity but with the help of modern technology we get to express ourselves with ease thought some people won't accept you for who you are and that's the down side of it, whether it modern technology or not, you will always be rejected by people.

This article interests me because Plato is really right. The hardest thing about yourself is to accept oneself and be proud of it. You'll have to go through hard obstacles first before you even realize that the first thing you should do is to accept who you really are and embrace it

Dominic Basulto said, "Consciously or not, we're all struggling to understand our identity in a modern, technological world. We all want to understand how we are changing on a weekly, or even daily, basis. And the ease of a selfie solves all that."

With this quote,  it made me realize,am I really changing? because you won't even know how you are changing whether physical or mental and the only one who can tell that are the people around you, though it's hard but you really have to dig deep inside yourself to find who you really are.

I guess some people really are having trouble in finding their true self, but I guess with the help of technology now it is easier for us to be able to find who we really are by the use of selfie, some people use this to document themselves and after a few years they will look at it and see how they have changed. Maybe selfie is not really bad after all.

Blog post #4: Selfie etiquette

Since everyone is carrying a smartphone nowadays, taking pictures anywhere you want is now possible,specially for those who take selfies. But some people take selfies anywhere they want and when I mean anywhere, literally anywhere and inappropriate and they think that it is okay to post it and that's where they are wrong.

According to an article in theguardian.com entitled "Thumbs-up at a Holocaust memorial: a clear breach of selfie etiquette" by Arwa Mahdawi stated that teenagers today has the most number of selfie post in their social media accounts but there's someting wrong about their selfies. The locations and the backdrops. There's this one incident that she stated in her article that there was this kid that posted his selfie in front of the Holocaust memorial with a thumbs-up, we may not know what his intention was but it gained a lot of negative criticisms because for them the memorial where the selfie was taken was very important to them and should be given respect and his thumbs-up could mean anything to anyone, maybe he's just happy that he found the memorial or he was just a tourist. This is just a reminder to everyone that it is okay to have a selfie in serious places but you have to make sure that your expression is appropriate with the ambiance of where you are or else you will be famous of being obnoxious and insensitive in the social media or you could end up being a meme.

This article interests me because I was surprised that there are people who doesn't only take selfies at home but even in serious places that are respected by people because they think it would be fun if the people around the world would know that he took a selfie in the memorial of an influential person. Let's remember that not all places are a good location for selfies there is always a right place for it.

Arwa Mahdawi said, "But the photographs themselves could have unpredictable afterlives, being passed down from generation to generation, and still making tabloid headlines today.That has been taken to a whole new level in the digital age, where a poor choice of selfie can quickly give you the 15 megabytes of fame you didn't really want."

Now this quote should be a reminder for those people who likes to post their selfie in a memorial or in a wake of thier relative. People should really be mindful of what kind of selfie they want to post because they are the ones that destroys their image just because of a selfish mistake.

Because of this article that I have presented, I thought, is there an etiquette in order to have a good selfie wherein no one will label you as obnoxious and insensitive and this is what I have read.

According to an article by Ma. Rachel R. Yapchiongco entitled "Selfie etiquette 101" in thepoc.net she stated that selfie has already been part of our culture whether you're a child, an adult, a professional or a celebrity can take selfies anywhere they want but they have to make sure that know the manners in taking a selfie.

She stated some of the common manners an individual should know when taking a selfie. First of all, if you're going to take a selfie, you should know that it is safe first, that's pretty much a common sense for everybody. Who would even take a selfie while driving, that's just ridiculous. Second is the appropriateness of the location. Don't take 'anywhere' literally, make sure that you're in a safe place, never take a selfie in a funeral as a backdrop and be sensitive of where you are. Third, moderation is he key to everything, posting a selfie once a week is still okay but when you're on a selfie rage and started flooding the timeline of your friends then that' the time you need to step back a little from posting too much of yourself. Fourth and most important, I guess, is not to most of yourself too much, you wouldn't want anyone to think that you're narcissistic already and you have a high risk of losing your followers. Fifth, be careful what you post, everybody should know this by now. You wouldn't want to lose your job just because you posted that you are in a beach and you said that you were sick. Sometimes selfie can be used against you and can lead to harmful situations and affect your life. So be smart when posting a selfie. Last but not the least, don't look stupid on your photos, intentionally, yes everyone wants to be cute on their pictures,specially girls, but don't make a fool of yourself on purpose no one wants to see that. Everyone wants to see the natural you.

This article interests me because I didn't even know that there would be manners in taking selfies but I guess it is only right to know it. Everything should have rules on how to do it properly, just like a manual for us not to look foolish on how we look on our selfies

Ma. Rachel R. Yapchiongco said in her article, "Some say that selfie is now a way of life or part of our culture. People from all walks of life have jumped into the selfie bandwagon. Ordinary citizens, students, professionals, celebrities, athletes, politicians, businessmen, media men, and even religious figures have yielded to the clamor of selfies."

This quote pretty much tells what selfie is today. It is now part of our culture may be it a local person or a famous Hollywood star, they have been committed in to taking selfies and even the Pope did it. It just means that we have embraced selfie and fnally accepted it and we don't care what will people say about us.

In my opinion, in relation with the two articles, I think that  people should really be mindful of what they post everyday specially their pictures because if they post something that they think is funny or beautiful, what they don't know is that it has a different meaning for the people who see it in the social media and from that mistake you may have to live where you are known as the insensitive and obnoxious kind of person.

Blog post #3: The risk and dangers of Selfie

In today's generation, everyone wants to be accepted as who they really are, but everything changed when selfie came up. Now teenagers are being more conscious about their look on the outside not on the inside because for them social survival is one of the solutions in getting friends and not getting rejected by their peers, but why they don't know is that they are more rejected by people not only in their school but by the whole community.

According to an article in telegraph.co.uk by Rosa Silverman entitled " 'Selfie' photographs trend 'puts children at risk of abuse' " she said that many of the teenagers nowadays post their pictures in social networking sites to bid for approval from their peers so that they can feel that they are already accepted just by getting a like from the picture they posted, an expert said that children today are developing an 'inappropriate self awareness at a much earlier age.' They post pictures of themselves for approval but they are more vulnerable to cyber bullying and abuse. The mindset of the people nowadays is very weird because they think that posting  a selfie is a competition for them, they like to compare themselves  to other who garnered more likes than them and if they don't get the number of likes they wanted, they see that as an embarrassment for them and think that they are not popular and some other people develop eating disorders just to make themselves look 'perfect' on their selfie, which is for me not a very good habit they are just destroying themselves and their body just to be accepted by people.

This article interests me because I was shocked of what I have read in this article. I didn't know that this selfie mayhem has gone haywire and the people too. They've lost their control and they let their desires of being accepted rule over their minds it's like they are being mind controlled and tells them to always look perfect on your photos and compete with other people and they even developed eating disorders jut because they want to look like or look even better than people.

Rosa Silverman said in her article, "Social media sites have come under scrutiny recently following the suicide of 14 year-old Hannah Smith after she was targeted by trolls on the social networking site Ask.fm."

This quote that I've read from the article is very alarming, and I hope people would stop for a moment and think of the things that they think is not very healthy for them anymore specially in taking selfies. They should start giving more concern on their health instead of their appearance in the pictures, they might not know that they are already have eating disorder just because they want to look good in their selfies and not only they can develop eating disorders but they are very vulnerable to cyber bullying too which can highly affect their confidence level and receive negative comments which can result to suicidal attempts. I hope people would realize that now before it's too late.

Some people say that selfies can be constructive and destructive at the same. In my own opinion, yes it can be constructive in a way that you get to build up your confidence through social media but it can also be destructive once it goes overboard.

According to an article by Dee Dee Gatton in kval.com entitled " 'Selfie' destructive? 'It puts an emphasis on one facet of their lives."  she said that not only the teenagers get to be affected this self-portrait phenomenon, even then toddlers and young children too it has a high impact on the child's ability to fulfill happiness through goals and desires. Parents should not teach children to take selfies because it is only natural for children to be curious on how they look and take pictures of their children interacting with other people personally not through the use of internet. A ninth-grader said that it is a competition today on who gets the most followers and has the most likes on their pictures but Dr. Jana Mohr-Lone said that it is only natural for adolescents to explore themselves and think of a way to express themselves because in the adolescent stage, she said,  the questions 'Who am I?' or "How do others see me?' starts, they are not just showing how they actually look, but they also convey a message through reactions and feelings that ,sometimes, words can't tell.

Dee Dee Gatton said in her article, "A lot of teenagers and young adults seem to be obsessed with taking pictures of themselves to post on Instagram and Facebook. Some experts say, it doesn't mean they're narcissistic or vain - in fact, it's perfectly normal."

This quotes somehow altered my way of thinking how selfie really affected and can affect people. Now I know that why some of the pictures in the internet mostly contains teenagers, they want to explore themselves through the use of modern technology and maybe they are afraid to express themselves in other ways of self-expression that's why they chose selfie and some researchers say that it is not a form of narcissism or vanity for teenagers, but is perfectly normal for them to do these kind of things.

This article interests me because at some point it made me think how selfie can affect every individual from toddlers to adults. There is always an explanation for everything we just need to dig thoroughly for us to know the truth behind these questions.

In my own opinion, selfie does have a good effect on some people, specially those of the teenagers, we misunderstood them by judging them immediately and by labeling them narcissistic and vain just because they posted a picture of themselves and they just wanted to express themselves and that's the way they chose to express themselves.