I had read about disasters caused with the whims of selfies,
but had ignored it as usual social exaggeration. But after looking at the
number of people indulging in selfies in so odd ways, I started realizing that
it is not an overstatement at all. I don’t think any other social problem has
affected the mental health of tech savvy population as severely as Selfie Obsession.
I’m not going to argue if men take more selfies or woman. It is much more than just
numbers because both men and women do it habitually these days. Of late, I’ve
seen lots of female photographers travelling around with their DSLRs clicking stunning
pictures. But photography has remained andro-centric to a large extent. On the
other side, selfies are becoming gyno-centric and the female population is over dramatizing
it. With selfies, I’ve seen more
occasions of narcissism displayed by women than men. Yeah! I said Narcissism
because I’ve seen girls craving for selfies. It has become a decree among the
group of teenage girls who endorse it. It has become the symbol of vanity for young
women.
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| Add caption |
This incident happened in Jaipur’s Jantar Mantar. I was busy
trying to capture the best of the monument and beside me was a group of people.
The guide, out of pure passion, was explaining the astronomical design
principles of Indians in 17th century and the affluence of ancient
Hindu Sanskrit texts used in astronomy.
A lady in the group, out of blues, came to him and said “bhaiya ek
minute ruko na please” (which translates to “please give us a minute”) and
started searching something in her hand bag. I thought she was about to make
notes. But to my surprise, she took out her phone, selfie stick and started
taking selfies with other girls. I was shocked! I could not fathom how self
obsessed and egocentric could she get. So much sham for just a pic of yours? I
could not comprehend the fact that she has travelled thousands of miles to do
nothing but take selfies. I just kept thinking; to what extent this selfie
craze has rid humans of common sense.
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| Bipasha Basu with Pout selfie |
In the same trip, the perturbation caused to me by my wife
to take selfies was so much that my DSLR was just hanging in there for major
part of the trip. From then on, I was just trying to keep a tab on things
around me. Surprisingly, almost in every tourist attraction of Rajasthan,
except the newlyweds and a “couple” of exception, the guys in the groups were
trying to experiment with their cameras & mobile phones but the girls were
busy taking selfies in whatsoever way. Back at home, when my other friends
asked us how the trip was, my wife accused me of not taking enough selfies! By
enough, she means posing and clicking until the perfect one is clicked. Her
idea of a perfect Selfie is the one which is taken with everyone’s cranky and
grumpy expression of utmost annoyance in order to make everyone look sexy and
attractive. And if the place of interest is even faintly visible, that is
great!
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| A popular meme on selfie narcissism by women |
If you hate posing for selfies, you’d understand this. I don’t
know what is more annoying than posing for selfies in public places. Taking a
selfie is another thing altogether. At any given point of time, I can either
make a face or concentrate. I am still trying to figure out how girls
concentrate and smile at the same time easily. Most of the selfies posted on
social media according to me is pretence. And the pretence comes with different
filters to make it look even more pretence. Selfies by female celebrities with pout
has reached all time heights. Damsels posting selfies with taglines like “hating me doesn’t make you pretty” and “phew.. I thought I wasn’t pretty anymore”
are pretty common on my Instagram feed.
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| Posing for selfie isn't easy |
I am trying my best not to be gender biased. But just look
around and closely observe the female selfie enthusiasts. We all have that one girl
in the group who changes whatsapp DP every day. A woman’s make-up time has
increased because of selfies, says a survey. Do you know that selfies have sent
sale of make-up kits soaring in the UK? Isn’t it is very apparent that selfie
obsession can be correlated to all the possible narcissistic qualities in a
woman; Vanity, cocky, self admiration and excessively conceited? Trying to be
cocky in public places is totally annoying. I’ve seen that they scoff at the
notion of Dos and Don’ts and continue taking selfies. The amount of vanity they
exhibit… Ugh! Both on social media and real time, too much of vanity is utterly
irksome. The internet is full of stories like “people who died tragically taking selfies”, “selfie accidents” and
“selfie disasters”. I truly believe
that these are just the consequences of narcissism reaching dangerous levels.
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| Selfie while driving can be very dangerous! |
It doesn’t come as a surprise to me that Russian internal
ministry released a “selfie safety guide”.
Tourism departments across the world are adding selfie sticks to the “Not
allowed” category. I’m not saying that we should stop taking selfies. If you
like it, please do it. Occasional selfies are good. Even deviating from the
standard social custom and defining your own uber-cool is also acceptable. But
please watch out. There are more modest things that you could have done at the
moment instead of taking a selfie. Your social media feeds are not for
yourself. It is watched by virtuous people too and you need to respect them. Mothers
who take selfies everywhere are unknowingly teaching their kids nonsense. Imperfection
at times is okay and that also is a way of life. You are not obligated to tell
the world, from a restroom, that you look sexy. There are better places to do
that. Please be wary and take heed. Because…..
Your self respect is always of a high decorum compared to
your Selfie respect.
Image credits: indiatimes, pinterest and time
