The Selfie: An UNDER-APPRECIATED perspective

​Selfies today have a predominately bad reputation. NON-scientifically linked to extreme narcissism, mental illness and perpetuated by the over use by certain celebrities everybody loves to hate. I’m not going to defend the Kardashian/Jenner clan because their bank accounts speak for themselves so I’m just going to b-line back to the main topic. We often fail to remember that we’ve been taking selfies since the age of the disposable camera. The only differences between then and now are that we can produce and edit the fuck out of them at an unfathomable rate.

I want to first address the guys. There have been countless memes indicating that males who take selfies are somehow emasculated. I’m not going to say that this is ridiculously stupid and also sexist but I will say that if you take life advice from a meme affixed to some misogynistic photo… maybe you shouldn’t be taking selfies or photos in general or even exist for that matter. Selfies are not a male or a female thing. STFU and cut that shit out.

When I take a deeper look into the idea of selfies I do so from two sides of the same coin. In each topic, I believe we should look at both why people would adopt and why people would oppose… even if it’s brief, it’s only fair. I’m no psychology major nor will I ever claim to be but I think a lot of this topic circles around self-image/ confidence. Shut up. I know that seems like common sense because we are in fact talking about selfies but let me get my thoughts out before you promote me to Captain Obvious.

I think the anti-selfie people at some point have or are still struggling with insecurities. This may come off as a generalizing and bold statement but to me it feels like the only logical reason. Why else would one actively go out of his or her way to negatively dissect a photo someone felt proud of? The list of possible insecurities is endless; physical insecurities, levels of confidence, all around jealousy… we all have felt some type of way about ourselves so I don’t particularly feel a need to focus on this. I really don’t fuck with negativity.
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To all the proud, confident, not needing anybody else’s approval, no fucks given selfie takers… I salute you. We are a slowly growing breed as our generation continues to progress and make strides to encourage and uplift each other (a huge aim for @SomeDailyJoe) so I feel like we’ll be massive numbers in no time. I feel like a selfie says ‘I’m killin the game’, ‘Slay’, ‘I’m feelin myself’… need I continue? You are comfortable with the image you are putting out in the world and that’s amazing. Nobody ever says ‘I look like shit in this, let me post it’. With that said I’m assuming you don’t hella facetume yourself creating a completely new person that doesn’t exist only prompting unwarranted attention and meetings under false pretences, leaving you feeling like you’re unlovable. That’s never good. Owning who you are is something every person strives for in their life whether they want to admit it or not and as trivial as it may seem, posting a dope ass selfie is an easy way to metaphorically shout it from the rooftops. On a lighter note, no pun intended, understanding the necessity of and the art in finding that perfect lighting is a skill. BE PROUD OF THAT SHIT.

Some of my favorite people have embraced the selfie and they are some of the best people I’ve been lucky to have in my life. They are positive and uplifting, encouraging and supportive, achieving goals and are generally really fuckin happy.

Long story short: posting selfies=higher levels of confidence in oneself. No science in that, it’s just my opinion. If you’re feelin yourself, post up. #Flawless
Here are some of my friends that have embraced the Selfie. Go creep them on IG and keep up with all the photo ops on @SomeDailyJoe

Until next time, cheers to you!