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.

Blog post #2: Is it still for fun or are you already obsessed?

As what I have said in my first blog post, selfie is now a worldwide trend. Many of us have been addicted to this trend these days, on the other hand, some people don't really agree with selfie. They say that taking selfies is just plain narcissistic and vain, that they should start taking pictures that's worth liking but other people say that taking selfies is a way of self-expression and self-love, but what is selfie to you anyway? Do you really need it or do you do it just for fun?

According to Melissa Walker in her article "The Good, the Bad and the consequences of selfie obsession" in teenvogue.com she states that there more available picture of normal people in the internet than of the models which means that the normal people dominated the pictures of the fashion models or maybe they just want to start a trend and tell the people that "hey look at us, don't mind them, we're real, they're photoshopped" but if that's how people think nowadays then that's just wrong. She also states that most of the pictures that were posted in Instagram were from the teenagers, she interviewed them too and some of them said that they were painfully self-conscious of the photos of themselves and that they like having the power to control their pictures to be liked and noticed and some people say that it's their way of boosting their confidence because if they will get many likes from their photo they will somehow think that they look pretty or gorgeous which is pretty healthy for an individual but once they start getting their haters because of frequent posting of selfies their self-esteem will go down the drain. A girl she interviewed said that people who take selfies have nothing else better to do than the way they look which is pretty shallow.

This article really interests me because somehow it made me think that, what's their point of taking selfie anyway? Do they do it for fun or they really just want attention from others in order for them to gain self-confidence? The answer here is both. They do it for fun and to gain self-confidence but once things get out of hand that's, their self-esteem goes down and starts getting bashed by people in the internet.

Melissa Walker said that, "Everything you share on social media reveals something about you, and you are in control. So maybe you like to travel, or read, or dance, or create crazy 3-D nail art ... post that! Take it from us: It's so much more interesting."

This quote definitely tells people that they should start expressing themselves more in their selfie rather than just making it perfectly beautiful just to get attention because people will eventually get the wrong message of your selfie. I'm not saying that it's bad to take selfies for once in a while but make it more meaningful and fun, honestly I like selfies which tells more about them like travelling, eating or doing they like the most.

Being obsessed, psychologically, in selfie is somehow has a good and bad effect on you and the people around you and it can affect your personality or behavior greatly. But philosophically there are things that you don't really see when you're doing a selfie - the perfect moment.

According to G. Wayne Miller in his article "‘Selfie’ obsession: Snapping the picture, but missing the moment." in providencejournal.com said that is the act of capturing the moment itself has replaced the moment itself? For some people, yes it has, it is because of the image-oriented social media like Snapchat, Twitter and specially Instagram and because of  the evolution of technology, there are devices that have a built-in cameras which you can anytime and wherever you are. A philosophy professor said in this article that this phenomenon that we are experiencing is called ocular centrism which means that it gives more emphasis on visual rather than the other senses. But before technology was introduced, nature started it, and back then cameras were not the tool to get a selfie, they painted it and only a few people have the time or the talent to create picture-perfect self-portrait which is rare nowadays because people today want everything with just a click of their hand and the 'gallery' where they post there 'art' is in Instagram, Twitter or Snapchat, which is for me kind of boring because they miss out most of the fun while they are taking selfies.

G. Wayne Miller said, "We are physical creatures whether or not we like it. Disengaging from our full physical existence to be immersed in technology changes the way our brain works and it’s certainly having a bad effect on our health."

This quote should be read by people who made selfie a hobby. They should be aware that being overwhelmed by technology is not a trend and don't make it a trend because, we may not notice it, but it can greatly affect our health whether it is mental or physical. Don't be seduced by the looks of the technology, yes it doesn't hurt to be techie but don't make it your life because at some point of your life you will also need the natural way things are need to be done.

This article interests me because, I, myself, am addicted to technology, but not in to selfies, but it is somehow the same with getting addicted to selfies because you need a certain technology to obtain a selfie. It also serves as an eye-opener to me that never let anything take over you or be get addicted to it and it can affect how our brain works we should always keep in mind that in everything we do should be in moderation and it reminded me that everything started in the natural way. .

Obsessing over selfie is not a very healthy habit for everyone because it has a bad effect in our brain and how we think, at some point we can get depressed just because someone told us something negative about our picture, for us to avoid this happenings is to do it in moderation because everything that is too much already has bad effects on us physically and mentally.

Blog post #1: The reason behind 'selfie'

Since this generation has been more “techie”, everything has changed. All of it. The way we send our mails has been replaced by emails, the way we talk to people personally has been replaced by chatting, the way we make friends personally was replaced by Facebook and the way how keep our pictures in albums has been replaced by Instagram. Instagram is a social networking site wherein we can take our pictures that we’ve taken wherever we are, whether we are in school, office and beautiful views that we’ve only seen for the first time, but the most controversial thing in Instagram is selfie.

According to an article entitled “Psychology Explains Why We Take Selfies” by Anna Davies in yahoo.com, states that taking a selfie can be fun at first but once you take selfies almost every 5 hours in a day or find yourself looking for situations that will look good in instagram, that’s the time you need to think about how selfie affected you, psychologically. The point in taking selfie, according to the article, is that you get to control on how you will look in the picture, you’re just taking pictures of yourself and then you post it and then you wait for couple of minutes and see how many people will like your picture and if no one notices your picture or likes it you will take another or a fewer more selfies then replace the photo you’ve already posted, and that’s the reason why many people are more into selfies because they like the attention they are getting from their followers or friends then they post more pictures of themselves because they think they’re already popular in the social networking site because they garnered many likes from other people, but some people will eventually get irritated to you, which is inevitable, because everyone will now label you as vain and narcissistic.

This article interests me because it gives an eye-opener to everyone who are very addicted to selfies that they should limit on taking selfies, it can really affect them psychologically which is not good for an individual because if you keep on doing things that will affect your personality you will gain haters, it’s a reminder that what you’re doing is not healthy anymore and it’ getting annoying and people will think that you just want attention from everyone.

Anna Davies says, "Spend too much time pulling a duck face at the lens or putting every hair in place and not only are you wasting time, you're also missing out on the spontaneity and imperfections that are part of making memories."

I think this quote pretty much sums up what are the pros and cons of taking selfies. You spend too much time beautifying your pictures to make it look perfect when everyone sees it in the internet but your mainly missing out the fun in taking selfies, the candid pictures that are naturally beautiful instead of those pictures that you organize just like having a photo shoot but by yourself.

If I’m going to consider the view of the psychologists about selfies and how it affects us and how to overcome it then there is a deeper answer on why people are addicted in taking selfies then I will probably know the root of this selfie mayhem in social networking sites. That’s where the philosophical point of view comes in.

According to an article by Megan Murphy in feministcurrent.com entitled “Defense of the ‘selfie’ confirms that this era will forever be known as the stupidest of all the eras.” states that we are naturally self-centered at times and we think that everything we do is just for ourselves, we never think about what other people might think about our actions and about ourselves. She stated in her article that she watched a debate about selfie that was discussed by Sara Nicole Prickett, a writer, and Andrew Keen and Hal Niedzviecki. Keen stated that selfie is an act of ”extreme narcissism” that will surely affect our history. If you will think it that way, he was actually true, imagine in the textbook of our children’s children they will read in their history books that our generation will be famous for taking too many selfies in a day. That’s just terrible. They will remember us as the vainest generation. Prickett points out that, it is true that we are living in a narcissistic time, but the term called narcissism points out who do selfies most – women. Women are the most influenced by the selfie trend because they want men to notice them. A photographer said that selfie is a form self-expression and self-love, one does not simply call someone ‘vain’ just because he or she posted a selfie for the first time, we don’t even know what his motive on posting his selfie is.

Megan Murphy says,"When we internalize the male gaze, we see ourselves through that lens. So we turn the camera on ourselves, or we objectify other women, or we objectify ourselves — because that’s how we have learned to see women and to see ourselves. Simply because a man is not literally looking at us at the very moment we ‘choose’ to objectify ourselves or simply because our audience may be comprised of some women, does not erase the male gaze from our psyche."

This quote surely answers why women were the most influenced by the selfie mayhem. It is because they want to express themselves who they really are and they want to show to men that they should start looking at women literally when they start expressing themselves not just by looking at their bodies.

This article interests me because it gave me the answer to what I was looking for. I realized that there are many reasons why certain people got into selfie, it’s not just for fun but they want us to notice them and appreciate them, though as the saying says: “You can’t please everyone.” Is actually true, eventually you will have haters in every social networking site and it’s inevitable.

The two articles that I have written, though from different perspectives, they still connect each other and gave me the answer that I was looking for. It just show that, yes selfie is narcissistic and somewhat vain, but people do it for fun and they just wanted to be noticed because maybe at some point in their life they were neglected all the time or they were shy back then and the solution they found to gain confidence is through selfie, what we can do then is just to let them be. Let’s not judge people immediately.

We shouldn’t judge people immediately just because they posted picture, we should analyze the situation first, but at the same time those who post their pictures frequently should learn how to control themselves because the world doesn’t revolve around to one person only, it revolves to everyone and don’t just post something just for “yourself”, post something that everyone will look at and be appreciated by everyone.