#6 of 30 – Selfie

How often do I take photos of myself? Rarely, very rarely. I’m usually looking at something out in the world, and thinking to myself – wow, that’s amazing and I need to capture that image. It’s rarely me!

It’s the introduction of smart phones with cameras facing in both directions that have created the opportunity for this selfie obsession that is so common. I guess that the extra camera was put into phones to enable video calls using Skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp, Facebook etc. Early incarnations of this technology were not the best lenses, although that has changed as users have increasingly been using the lens to take photos of themselves.

I’m going to sound like a curmudgeon as I question why there is this obsession with the self. It’s not just an opportunity to show the world what we look like. It reaches out to photos of locations, events and everything. It’s no longer enough to take a photo of an incredible view – we need to put ourselves in there to prove that we were actually there.

OK, moan concluded, now I want to look at how selfies can add value. I do occasionally take a selfie – and having a set of them (sorted in my phone automatically) I can look back over the years. I can see how ageing and impermanence work their magic. That’s useful – it’s a reminder that we don’t live forever, that wasting time is not a good idea. Being purposeful with our lives is critical.

I can also see selfies that reflect a wide range of moods, from happy to sad, from laughing to angry. Sometimes those moods aren’t obvious to me at the time – looking back I can see what is going on in my face. I obviously would make a very bad poker player!

I also took a few more selfies when June and I were doing acting classes early last year. It was interesting to see how able to ‘act’ and put on characters I was (or not, as was often so in my case!) And being able to see videos of the performances we did was surprising. Often my performance was nowhere near as bad as I thought it was in my head.

So, like so many things, like so many technologies – the thing itself is neutral. How we apply it determines whether it is a positive thing, whether it adds value to our lives. The danger that it leads to a modern-day brand of narcissism and ultimately alienates us from others, can be avoided by being careful as to what our motive is in taking the photo.

What matters? Being mindful in our practices, placing our intention to the benefit of others.