The Selfie

Artwork by Matt Skingsley 

We have entered a new phase of the human race. A new generation.

The Selfie Generation.

I for one must say that I am been sucked into this phenomenon.

The Selfie is a fad that has been amplified by the surge of social media that has hit us over the past few years. Now every moment of our lives can be documented at any given time, and what better way to document a moment that with a selfie.

It’s said that ‘A picture says a thousand words.’ Well if this is true then the selfie generation will have endless memories to reminisce over in the years to come. The downside however, which was lovingly pointed out to me by my sister as I was taking selfies in the garden just last week, is that these memories that we are creating are no longer of places and of things but of just your face. We have stopped documenting our lives and now only document ourselves. Not to mention that it has been reported that The Selfie is causing body dysmorphia and other forms of depression as people strive to take the ‘perfect’ selfie.

The Selfie has evolved. Pictures of people standing in front of a mirror with their iPhone are really very ‘old school’. With the amount of photography apps on phones and tablets these days, the options really are endless.

The Selfie has taken over the Internet so heavily that we are now able to categorize them.

OOTD:  A quick snap of the outfit you are wearing. Used mainly by fashionista and followers of fashion.

#NOFILTER: Now this is either a hot mess and should never be allowed or a completely lie and whoever it is has spent an hour in Face Tune, and has used about 6 different filters outside of Instagram.

The Topless Selfie: Because sex sells.

The Classic: A standard head and shoulders portrait.

The Arty Selfie: Where we all think we are shooting for Vogue on a Canon 5D. The Self Timer comes out and things get serious.

And many more.

I’m all for the Selfie and for all the problems that it has I just cant bring myself to hate it.