disclaimer: I've been known to take my share of selfies in the past. so I've recently noticed an increase in the number of pople taking selfies, the number of articles about selfies, and the number of people who seem to be upset by other people's selfies. I think the term "selfie" is a fairly recent one, but people have been doing self portraits, having others paint their portraits, having others take pics of them, etc. throughout human history. so apparently the American Psychiatric Association has designated selfie-taking as a mental disorder. GREAT! another reason to medicate ourselves - in case we didn't have enough already. but is it really? fact is, people post pics of (or talk about) things they are proud of. for some people it's their kids, for others it's their pets, car, motorcycle, boat, their fitness or other physical accomplishments, their academic accomplishments, their hobbies, etc. and still yet, for some, it's their looks. I honestly don't see why those who are proud of their looks need to be singled out as having a mental disorder. is it any more of a mental disorder than people who are proud (some almost to the point of obsession) of their kids or pets or cars, etc. or people who take all those stupid quizzes about what historical character or movie character they are? and this assumes that all the selfies a person takes are taken because the person is proud or obsessed with his/her looks. might it be possible that selfies are often taken because a person is traveling alone and wants to document or share with his/her friends the places they've visited or things they have done? personally, I find the preoccupation some people seem to have with other people's selfie taking habits to be more disturbing than the people who go about their own business, perhaps a bit preoccupied with themselves. I mean why does it bother them so? why do they care? is it not possible that the people who frown upon other people's selfie-taking obsessions don't take selfies because maybe they're not that physically attractive and they make up for it in different ways and have their own obsessions? (have you ever heard of people go on and on about their kids and how smart they are? or do you not see all their pics of their dogs or cats on facebook?) it is just preoccupation with one's self that's a mental disorder? I ask that we all stand at attention as I hereby raise the bullshit flag.
the story might be a hoax (joke's on me), but you have to admit, it doesn't seem all that far fetched. our society seems to want to make everything into a mental illness:\ sleep too much, sleep too little, eat too much, eat too little, work too much, too lazy, too fat, too skinny, worry too much about weight and fitness, diet too much, don't diet enough etc. everything is a mental illness. I'm just rather irritated with all my friends who seem to need to tag me in every stupid article about selfies. seriously, why are you so obsessed with my obsession??
I think you have "our society" mixed up with Pharmaceutical Company advertising. And perhaps "mental illness" confused with "a two-to-four-letter acronym to make a symptom or natural condition seem important enough to buy a pill for" edit: PS - to bolster your point - did you see the dufus kid who happened to be standing next to the fire alarm and pulled it during the "school stabbing" sent out a selfie in his hospital robe and bandages over his scratch?
Can't really do the proper Jeff Foxworthy cadence without those two syllables. The Final Frontier for selfies: Writing your own obituary: http://www.bostonglobe.com/2012/08/...thing-dying/CSkcS3Dm0CGNoqxM7vILcN/story.html “An opportunity to speak from the grave,” is how Marilyn Johnson, author of “The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs, and The Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries,” describes the auto-obit. “It’s a great defensive move, right up there with leaving a sharp black and white photo of yourself lying around.” Self-written obituaries generally run in newspapers as paid death notices, while traditional obits are written by newspaper reporters. But with the growing popularity of online obituary sites such as Legacy.com, which publishes mainly paid death notices, the self-written obit has an ever-larger potential audience. Statistics on the number of seniors working to meet the ultimate deadline are hard to come by, but obituary-writing courses are being offered on-line and in workshops, and informal obit-writing sessions are popping up at book club meetings and girlfriend reunions. Of course, that's not entirely new, either...
yeah, that's kind of where I was going with my post. pharmaceutical companies sponsor a "study" into something, and next thing you know they already have a pill waiting to "treat" the "illness."
it seems the only difference between Pharma companies and drug dealers is that one of them has stockholders.
true. but it seems to me that for the most part, the people who are most upset with such profile pics are one's who would pay a significant sum NOT to have a pic of their own mid-section posted anywhere on the Internets... most people who are proud of something (whatever it may be) want to show it off. that's a natural human tendency. have you never met anyone who was so proud of their "others" focus that they're constantly talking about their charity work?
Is anyone really upset about selfies? I get no impression that anyone is really as upset with selfie-takers as they are with drivers on their phones or even Ms. Cyrus' twerking.
not that they're upset necessarily, but they just can't help rub it in every time some less-than-flattering article comes out about selfies. selfies are pretty harmless. but some people use articles about selfies to take jabs or make comments on selfies that are not exactly charitable or kind. to them I say, what's it to you if I post a selfie?? social media is by definition designed to be focused on the self. it's your pics, your thoughts, your ideas, your writings, your musings, your likes, your dislikes, your travels, your hobbies, etc. so why should anyone find it necessary to poke fun of people who post selfies of them doing whatever they do?
Speaking personally, I'd get pretty damn irritated if I saw someone taking a selfie while driving and/or twerking.
Upset no, do I think they are stupid yes. Do I think they are an expression of their takers' extreme navel-gazing and self-centeredness, yes. You have a device and a platform that can be used for sharing an image of just about anything with the world and you decide the most worthy subject is yourself...
The first thing this kid did after getting stabbed was take a selfie: http://elitedaily.com/news/world/hi...im-goes-hosptial-first-let-take-selfie-photo/ I'm curious why Kirk Cameron is still doing in HS
and why not?? is navel-gazing really that novel? are humans (especially the younger one) not by nature self-centered and self-absorbed and have been throughout human existence? in the old days, grandma Betty would come over for a visit and talk your head off mostly about herself for an hour or two. what's the difference? modern technology has simply provided us with a platform to reach more people and thereby our self-absorption is exhibited to more people. sorry, but this smacks of "oh you young whipper snappers! back in the old days..." we laugh at the self-centerdness of young people, and don't even notice our own...