THE Selfie: noun - A photograph that one has taken of oneself and uploaded to social media. This is the definition that can be found in the Oxford dictionary, for real.
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This week we heard the announcement that Kim Kardashian, (no not the aliens from Star Trek, I know I make the same mistake too) is publishing a book of selfies. A 352-page photo essay called Selfish is soon to hit book stores, that’s a picture of Kim for every day of the year.
Now for the uninitiated Ms Kardashian is famous for ... honestly, I couldn’t figure it out.
I looked her up and came up with looking pretty on television being the most probable job description for her, but she was once Paris Hiltons assistant.
The idea of publishing a book full of ones own image, more specifically just snaps you’ve taken on your phone while laying on the beach, to me doesn’t seem like art.
Sure, artists have been painting selfies for centuries, it was cheaper than hiring a model to practice on, but still it is art. I’m guilty of the occasional selfie, but I save them for when I’m doing something awesome, you know, like standing on the Great Wall.
I believe a selfie at these moments is kind of compulsory, but the day you get a new pair of shoes is not.
A book full of self portraits is not a new thing.
20 years ago Madonna created a coffee table book called Sex. I have to admit I’d like to meet the person who would keep that book on their coffee table, but I digress.
That book was shot by real photographers, and while it was more or less soft porn, it was in most respects artistic. It created discussion and showed a different side of the singer, albeit her backside but a different side nonetheless.
The book was only seen by the adult audience that it was aiming for, because there was no social media for it to reach further. Ms Kardashian has 17 million followers on Instagram, and another 22 million fans on Facebook.
Everyday she posts at least two pictures of herself publicly, which is pretty brave considering the terrible feedback each photo gets from internet trolls.
But for every hateful comment there are six more adoringly defending her. Can you imagine having millions of people tell you that you are gorgeous everyday?
It would be tough not to get big headed about it, and even harder to resist the urge to publish a book of pictures of yourself.
The book is going to sell, there is no chance that it won’t, because as Kim said to the New York Daily news “...every girl takes like full pictures of their ass in the mirror”. Wow, sounds like it’s going to a classy book.
I shudder to think of the impact that Ms Kardashian’s daily selfies, may have had on the millions teenage girls that are watching.
What ideas are they getting about the concept of what is beautiful?
Posting a selfie online and getting nice feedback will make you feel good at the time, but with our natural desire to seek approval, you’re going to want to do it again to get more of that good feeling.
As your friends get tired of seeing your selfies and commenting on them less, you’re going to have to step it up a notch, and this is the point where a lot of teenagers are crossing a dangerous line.
Every day I try to teach my girls to behave with some amount of class, but it’s getting harder and harder because the bar keeps getting lower.
So low it’s not even tripping us up anymore.