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.