If there is one innovation that has taken the world by storm, it is a selfie. Earlier we roamed around with our cameras mustering courage to ask a passerby to click our picture. And then later realized that either the picture was blurred or we were looking ungainly (fat!) only because of the bad angle; we muttered a silent curse as we did away with the picture. How we wished that others could see us from our eyes and could take pictures of us that were stunning just like we were. Or better still, how we wished we could capture ourselves. Lo and behold, we can do that now and how!
Enter smartphones and front cameras. God’s errr smartphone’s gift to mankind. A solo traveler’s best friend, a teen’s delight and a gathering’s ecstasy. The photograph is never the same again Then came the baap of all nuisance selfie stick. Now groups spend less time in connecting and having fun and more time in clicking well-posed for group selfies. Head to any tourist destination and you will find people in various stages of clicking a selfie. I even saw a couple hold their kiss again and again to get that perfect selfie. Yikes!
We all have taken selfies and enjoyed sharing the nice ones too. Some using filters to create pretty effects. But just like everything else, selfie taking has reached annoying proportions now especially when one is traveling. It is bugging enough that your kids talk so much; even more tiresome when people edge you away because they want to capture their picture with a caged lion.
I was in Louvre admiring the gorgeous pieces of Art. Agreed everyone wanted a selfie with the Mona Lisa which seemed disappointingly small and was barricaded away for the snob value. But there were other masterpieces on display that one could not get enough of. But there were people who would just pop up in front of a painting to click a selfie without so much as a glance at the gorgeous painting. Why? What will you do with that selfie?
The other day at Mysore Zoo, I found a young lady clicking a selfie in a resting area. I wondered what was picture worthy there when her friend asked her the same question. She said, “I am here so at least let me take a selfie!” Some logic that! I mean I get it that you wish to document moments but has travel and vacation reduced to this? What moments are you enjoying when all you do is grab a spot and click a picture?
I have barely any pictures of the vacations I took in my childhood but the memories are vivid. I wonder if the memories today are created specifically for social media. Are we posing and pouting to get that perfect picture losing out on the sights and sounds, conversation and cheer? Not to mention that selfie taking can be risky as has been proven by multiple accidents where people have hung from cliffs or posed with a wild animal or a waterfall and have died.
While selfie mania shows no signs of abating, I wonder if like other fads it will eventually settle down to some form of normal? I sure hope so.
What do you think? Do you enjoy taking selfies? Or do you find them annoying?
Pic courtesy: Vladimir Gjorgiev at Shutterstock
Everything is good only in moderation. Most people have taken the selfie addiction a bit too far. I agree completely with you. I see tourists groups hardly interested in the natural or historical beauty around and only holding that stick and pouting!
Yes moderation is the key, and many of us seem to have lost that. I wonder why people spend so much money to visit exotic places and then spend all their time in clicking selfies from various angles. Perhaps that is the enjoyment they seek.
He he You know my stance on this, more or less. I like taking selfies but all within moderation. I still prefer to have someone else click my picture and oh gosh, I don’t do the tourist thing. At least I hope not. Most times I am behind the camera anyway 😉
I think if people can strike a balance between fun and frenzy, the selfie taking obsession too will die a slow, natural death and become something that our kids will talk about when they speak of us 20 years from now 😉
You are quite balanced. I have never seen you take any unnecessary pictures. Yes, I hope so too. Till that time it continues to be bugging especially in social situations. 🙂
Nope , I hardly take selfies.. I prefer taking them with my family and people especially when vistiing india because dont know when I will see them again ..
Bikram’s
And that makes a lot of sense. Hope you are well, Bikram.
🙂 I am doing goood…. I have come to a stage in life where I feel that brooding will not help .. so let what happens HAppen.. I just carry on with what I want and feel 🙂
rest all will fall in as and when ..
how are you doing and how is family ..
The fact that close ups accentuate my double chin even more prevents me from taking any selfies 😛 But I love taking pictures of places I visit … I have seen so many hilarious sights where people ask others to take pictures of them taking a selfie… yup that happens too 😛
I love taking pictures of the places I visit too but nothing over the board and not with my face in it all the time. 😀 Yeah, I took a few of them too. Can be quite hilarious. 🙂
No, I am not selfie crazy. Once in a while, I do try it but not like it is the only thing left in the world. In Hong Kong too, I saw almost everyone travel with a selfie stick and I find it funny cos you anyways are not going to capture your gorgeous location in your selfie.
And how many accidents have we had for selfies. Gosh!
Exactly, Parul. We all take selfies and sometimes it is fun too. But all the time and everywhere? There has to be some balance there. How people have taken on to photography is really killing memories. They are all about capturing a good shot and missing on the larger picture.
You nailed it. I am against over the top selfie and so anti it now. We have become such crazy beings and tomorrow I intend to clean up my digi cam to click pictures like I used to do ages ago,
Thank you, Vishal. I think a perfectly good idea has totally gone overboard. The worst part is how it may interfere with others’ experiences. But does anyone care?
You are right, taking selfie has become a must to do activity these days. It is an awesome invention of current time. But now a days many negative news is also coming as many people are taking life risks to get proper selfies even at the cost of their life.
Even I am not a fan of Selfie. I might have taken hardly 3-4 such photos called selfies. Some people really overdo it.
Thank god I finished my studies when there was no FB, no selfie fever no whatsapp 🙂 (Its a famous joke)
The pursuit of selfish has reached crazy limits. Like every thing in life excess of anything is bad
Tell me about that turning your back to all the wonderful views, so that you can take a selfie 🙂
I am hopeless at selfies. I never look half as decent. I am fascinated when I see someone taking one. I end up staring hard to the extent of being rude. I mean how can you not be self-conscious, how can you preen and pout for your own self? Getting your picture clicked by someone else is bad enough – by your own self — unbelievable. And yet the younger generation seems so cool with the idea. They’re really something else.
I can take selfies sometimes and they are even useful when one wishes to capture a moment. But I think some people are just obsessed with it making pouty faces in front of their mobile. On Dec 25th, we had gone to see the first show of Star Wars and there was a great center piece at the mall. My kids were fascinated and wanted a picture taken with it. As you can imagine, many others were doing the same. There were these two girls, late teens, I think who went on and on making pouty, weird faces clicking selfies. Just looking at them cracked us up. And this went on for a good 5 minutes when we gave up and went away.
Its become a true mania. I think all these things just add to our hidden narcissist and they just open out more and more avenues. What with so many people dying because of this, it’s time to be more balanced about this
I wonder if that balance will come any time soon, Asha. Young and old, everyone is just enamored by it.
I Do not enjoy taking selfies. I literally hate it when people want to take a selfie of themselves every now and then with their pouts. For me, a selfie is looking into your nostrils through a magnifying glass. Once in a while, it’s okay. But not every where, every time. Some how, it drives me mad…don’t ask me why…but just for the heck of it. And who invented selfie sticks? ppl come up with all sorts of things..
Hehe We do use selfie sticks once in a while when we wish to get the entire family in the picture but it is really rare.
Oh I know what you mean. The obsession is real. While I don’t mind it, I am not a part of the selfie-obsessed group. I do appreciate the ability to take our own pictures v/s asking strangers, but that’s all.
I feel moderation is key. As long as people don’t forget that memories are more important than pictures, all is well. 🙂
I don’t mind it too as long as people are not doing it in my face. I personally take very few selfies unless it is the family. These days though I feel that most people just go crazy with it.