#SelfieMania!

 

When I was six years old, I was enraptured with the Nokia flip – phone that my mother possessed. Ever the inquisitive soul, you could find me perpetually fiddling with her phone, trying to make sense of the then latest technology, and cramming my tiny brain with as much information as I could handle. Undoubtedly, however, most of my time was spent mastering the art of photographing myself by ‘flipping’ the flip – phone: a task so arduous that fewest of the few could ever claim to have ever done it to perfection. I was at it all day; after kindergarten, supper, and play time. You can only imagine my exhilaration when I finally achieved what I once thought was impossible: pulling off the perfect shot and capturing myself with perfect clarity.

There's just something exotic about the red Nokia FlipPhone that I can't quite put my finger on!

Now, if you were to tell me then, that I was obsessed with the prototype of something that would be later called a ‘selfie’, and that flash forward to 2022, it would have influenced the medium of photography itself, and defined an entire generation’s perception of photo – taking, and stick around for eons after, I’m sure I would have called you a madman and promptly resumed tinkering with my Flip- phone.

Unfortunately for kid – me, you’d be absolutely right. In just a decade, selfies have become our culture’s collective visual diary. Currently, the hashtag #selfie yields more than 31 million hits on Instagram, and the Oxford Dictionaries selected ‘selfie’ as the Word of the Year for 2013. Heck, even Former President Barack Obama was photographed taking a selfie at Nelson Mandela’s memorial service, just a few months ago! You’d be remiss to see all of your favourite Actors, influencers, Icons, sportspersons or literally anybody in the planet take a selfie at least once. Let’s face it, whether you're posting a duck face or sticking your tongue out, selfies have completely taken over social media.

Alas, Even I have succumbed to the selfie wave.
 On the bright side though, don't we look great?

But what’s the selfie hype? What is so noteworthy about a selfie that compels absolutely everyone to indulge in it?

Well, who doesn’t love a good picture of themselves? Even the camera-shy are less likely to feel bashful when they’re in control of the photograph. Just twist to your good side, look up slightly (you want to avoid a double chin, don’t you?), extend your arm and shoot. Now, post to Facebook and wait for the barrage of compliments. Feels good, right?

Well, my friends, you’ve just cracked the code. Selfies, in essentiality, are self - portraits.  They are, generally, a feel-good and often creative way, particularly for teens, to chronicle their lives and emotions and express their personalities. Selfies are scientifically proven to boost confidence. When we post a selfie looking our best and we get likes for it, it produces a boost of dopamine in our brain, giving us that feel good vibe. The fact that the quality of our lives gets increasingly interlinked with social media notwithstanding, we truly are entering an age of self – expression, with selfies at the helm.

If I haven’t made it obvious yet (Wow, can’t read the room, much?), I feel positively ecstatic about selfies existing. I feel that, in moderation, selfies truly allow for people of all kinds to truly express themselves in a way unlike anything humanity has ever seen before.

But therein lies arguably the most important word I’ve uttered so far. Moderation. Something that our generation, unfortunately, does not have in its’ dictionary.

Or more like, we ripped it out of our dictionary with our bare hands and buried it into the depths of the earth along ‘self – control’ and ‘restraint’. It is what it is.

It’s true. Even the most composed, get carried away when caught up in the sheer joy of doing something they love. The occasional selfie barrages and the corresponding hype can attest to that! However, moments like that are few and far between in and of itself.

I’m focusing on the part where the urge to take a selfie gets uncontrollable. Your hands move of your own volition and you get addicted to the high. You are obsessed with the outcome, applying filters and aftereffects to remove supposed blemishes. You are so invested in people’s thoughts of your selfie that you begin to tie your own self worth into them. You feel like your favourite model when someone comments on your dashing good looks. You feel good. Sinfully good. You feel proud of your efforts, so proud that you vow to apply more effort next time. You spend your every waking moment trying to feed into the cycle.

Capture. Edit. Post. Capture. Edit. Post.

But at that point, you’re far too gone.

You become dangerously vain.

Sadly, this outcome is all too common for people of our generation. Our immature minds simply can’t comprehend the fact that we need to exercise restraint when indulging in our favourite activities. The emerging gratification and dopamine hit are too much for us to realise that at the end of the day, these are just an amalgamation of pixels and do not matter as much as we think it does in the grand scheme of things.

Ultimately, I’m thoroughly reminded of selfies’ sheer command over our life. The sheer power they hold over defining the defining moments of our life. And I feel staggered by its’ depth. And I fear the effects of it on a person too addicted to realise. 

 In the end, I feel that selfies are tools enabling us to express ourselves in all our grand, uninhibited glory, but also contain the propensity to make us vain, self – centred creatures.

Be Careful.

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PS - ........... So much for "I'll try my best to keep writing", LOL!

 As you probably might have guessed, I've not been very consistent in regards to writing over the past few years. Blame Covid. Blame the Ukraine War. Blame God. Blame school (Probably a worthier recipient of the justifiable vitriol, in my humble opinion), but I implore you not to blame me for this debacle, for I assure you I'm back, and I'm here to stay.

I'm sure there are a bunch of questions plonking your nauseating, annoying cranium, and yours truly will do his best to answer.

1. First of all, what's with the new site?

The previous site (Brat's corner; check it out if you haven't) housed some of my earliest work, some dating back to the ancient period of third grade in primary school! I just felt that the works in that page are not reflective of my current writing standards (believe me, some of the stuff there is really bad. I dare you to read my first post without cringing) and thus, have decided to branch out. New era, new blog and all that. Loathe as I am to admit it, I still harbor somewhat of a soft spot for that page, so I'll refrain from deleting it (for the time being). You can still check it out if you want to. Just hit me up, and I'll fix you with the link.

2. Why RealUnpredictable? Ran outta actual cool names to use?

Screw You. I tried, and that was the best I could come up with. Trust me when I say this, finding good names for your blog is vexating. Really tedious. Exasperating. Infuriating. Maddening. Did I mention vexating? Oh forgive me, I must have forgotten over THE SHEER MONOTONY of coming up with a creative, trendy and relatable name for a blog.

Gimme a break. I'm too tired, and too cranky for this LOL.

3. Have you made any semblance of progress in regards to your perpetual writer's block?

Yes, actually! Ironically enough, I'm brimming with vitality, at least in comparison to the half dead corpse that was my writing just a scant few years ago. I'm sure you must have guessed by now, but I have an opinion on absolutely EVERYTHING, and over the past few years, I've slowly gained the mentality (and time) to finally focus, dig deep and harness my inner Indian uncle, all for the benefit of you guys! You should be grateful.

4. Why'd you write about selfies of all things for your big comeback into the blogging sphere?

Good question. This particular piece in question was actually written as my script for an elocution competition that took place recently (I placed second, thanks for asking) and just when I was about to work on an entirely new piece to commemorate my grand and triumphant return to blogging, I saw this lying around in my docs folder. 

TLDR - I just found another way to feed my laziness by skimping out on writing a fresh essay (more like rant, really) and just repurposed my old script for the same. 

Well, I feel that covers most of it! Please feel free to let me know what you think of this article in the comments box below (I know, I just realised it existed a week ago) and I'll catch you guys later! Ciao!