The #Selfie Phenomenon

If you hadn't been visiting some another planet in the recent times, you are no newbie to the world of Sellfies. And at one point or another you have fallen for the selfie-trap, for the lack of a better word. Let's face it, we are pretty much obsessed with it...Well, most of us anyway. Also, as of today,there are over 23 million photos with the hashtag "#selfie" and a whopping 51 million with the hashtag "me" on Instagram. What makes it so popular?

I don't precisely remember taking my first selfie but I do know that it was not too long ago. And ever since I laid my hands on the phone with a front-facing camera, me taking a selfie has been all the more frequent. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it's literally the easiest way to take a picture of yourself: You just have to unlock the phone screen, tap the camera icon, tilt your head or the phone on a flattering angle and then tap the capture button (THAT easy!) against the traditional style of taking pictures where you first have to find someone who you can ask to take a picture of you and IF they agree, you have to think of various poses which makes you look "good" and take a dozen pictures only to find out that they hadn't zoomed in to the right point and the pictures didn't come out as good as you thought it would. Yeah, been there and done that.

And from time to time in the recent times, I've been seeing a lot of posts from the "moral police" which are downright against the selfie phenomenon. Many people have been saying that narcissism has been on an all time high since the world got hooked on selfies. And one of the articles I came across, went as far as implying that selfies are starting to be the social media equivalent of junk food and we've given ourselves Instagram diabetes.

But I, on the other hand, don't think that taking picture of yourself by yourself is all that wrong. Maybe this is the teenager in me talking, but if taking a good picture of themself can help a person boosts their self esteem (Because who doesn't want to feel attractive? ) then who cares what some people think ?

But even though, I'm not so keen on joining the bandwagon for banning selfies altogether , I do believe that people shouldn't go overboard with taking selfies. Because even if you are looking exceptional in that selfie , it's going to be annoying if you post a dozen pictures with the same setting over and over again. But having said that, posting a selfie can be okay as long as it's all in good fun like it's okay to indulge in the bad-but-tasty junk food once in a while.

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