What is a selfie? The extension of an arm, use of a stick, and the click of a button. What does it really represent, and how can it influence your life?

What most teens don’t know is what they do now… affects them some how, later in life. As some say “Every action has a consequence. Whether it be good or bad.”

According to Oxford Dictionary a selfie is, “a photograph that one takes of oneself with a digital camera or a front-facing smartphone, tablet, or webcam, especially for posting on a social-networking or photo-sharing website.” Selfie was added to the dictionary in 2013 as “word of the year”. Pew Research Center surveyed Americans; at least 26 percent of Americans have posted a selfie to social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, etc. Stylecastor, a very chic womanized website about, fashion, beauty and so on, says there is one million selfies taken each day, and one half of those surveyed have taken a selfie though, they may not have posted it to social media.

The invention of the selfie is not attributed or credited to anyone in particular. Inventors.about, a place of many world famous inventions and inventors, states that two people claimed to have taken this so called self-portrait. Unfortunately no evidence has proven either to actually have taken this first. Lester Wisbrod, a Hollywood cameraman claims that he took the first celebrity selfie in 1981, and continues to do so till this day. In 2001, a few Australian “lads” declared responsibility to taking the selfie first. They created a website and uploaded this so-called self-portrait to this unknown website. Australia also backs up there claims saying another member of their community named this phenomenon due to this post on a unknown but common Australian site. He says “um, drunk at a mates 21st, I tripped over and landed lip first (with front teeth coming a very close second) on a set of steps. I had a hole about to 1cm long right through my bottom lip. And sorry about the focus it was a selfie.” This is what started the craze of what is known as a selfie.

Daily news, a popular news website of New York, reported that Kim Kardashian recently announced her plan to release a 352- page hard cover book of nothing but selfies entitled “selfish”. Only showcasing a few of the reportedly 1,200 selfies she took on a recent vacation. Unfortunately for us though, these celebrities’ won’t eventually go looking for jobs outside the business that they are in now. As they are thriving in the movie and television business or else you wouldn’t have known who they are.
As reported by Eurocom Worldwide, a global alliance of privately owned companies, studies shows that nearly 40% of companies use social media to research their job candidates.  One in five technology firms has rejected a candidate because of what they found on his or her social media profile feed. They believe that he or she is, self-absorbent and will not be a helpful employee to their other staff. In other words they believe this person is “narcissistic” and won’t add benefit to their company. 

Selfies can be a leading factor, or a result of, narcissism. The Oxford Dictionary reports that narcissism is….” Excessive or erotic interest in oneself and one’s physical appearance’.” In other words it is almost self-addiction; you become absorbed with yourself and do not pay any attention to those around you.  Your life crumbs around you; you don’t relieve until it’s too late. “They have to pretend to love themselves because they feel no one loves them,” comments Dr. Carole Lieberman, author and Psychiatrist. They love that you think they feel is actually all fake! All that you see is the illusion of love that they put on themselves.

The word narcissism comes from a Greek myth. Narkissos or Narcissus fell in love with himself when he gazed into a reflection pool. The goddess Nemesis cursed him for attacking Ameinia. Some stories say that he became the flower narcissus, which droops or gazes into the pool. Different communities imply that he killed himself; others suggest that he bent down to kiss himself and fell in and drowned! Dr. Tracy Alloway of the University of North Florida said, “Every narcissist needs a reflecting pool. Just as Narcissus gazed into the pool to admire his beauty, social networking sites, like Facebook have become our modern-day pool.”

Teens of our generation are the one that will be most effected. This effect may start here but will last forever. Many of the teens are unaware of what they do now will catch up with them later in life. They don’t have good role models these days. They look up to famous people like Kim Kardashian who had surgery to look the way she does now. Go on Instagram, most people have at least one selfie on there feed. Selfies are like drugs they start with one saying no big its just one but next thing you know all that is one their feeds is this self-portrait.  Pews say that ninety-one percent of teens have taken a selfie and posted it online.

Another side effect of Selfies is Narcissism, OCD, superficial obsessions, unrealistic expectations, entitlement, insecurity and so much more. Clinical psychologist Bart Rossi said “ Today too many people are interests in making a statement about themselves on the Internet and creating and influential existence.  Selfies, when used to excess show a lack of depth and a shallow personality.” She continues by stating, “If someone is obsessed with taking selfies it is most likely because the individual is self-absorbed and narcissistic. “ Think about it. Selfies may bring you confidence, but may bring your confidence down as well, and what about others who compare themselves to you? So just stop and think about what you do on the Internet.