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Social Media and Perfect Selfies

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I like a good selfie…with food, my kiddos, and especially my dogs. Just look at one of my perfect selfies! Isn’t that fur baby adorable? Who’s so pretty? Who’s a Sweet Girl? What a Pretty Baby…oh..*cough, cough*…back to writing about perfect selfies.


Perfect selfie

 

Selfies as we know them today just didn’t exist when I was younger.

We took pics and prayed that at least 10 of the the 30 or 40 pics we took would turn out well and capture the moment. “Taking a selfie” meant attaching the camera to a tripod and setting a timer. Then you had to grin and hope that 45 seconds later, your smile looked natural, and not like a grimace. Of course, all of this was a surprise. You just never knew how your pics turned out until you got them back from the photo developer–assuming you ever got them processed in the first place!

Upping the ante while seeking attention

Social media has lent itself to exhibitionism. It can leave one with FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out. Even before we could make a lot of money on the clicks we receive to our websites or YouTube vids, we were displaying the Highlights of our lives, hoping for “likes” and “shares”. It seems logical that with attenuation, we need to do things Bigger, Better and More Dangerously in order to achieve those likes and shares.

Unfortunately, trying to memorialize oneself in the perfect selfie has led some to their deaths. One particular young man survived his attempt a dangerous perfect selfie and now warns others to be careful.

Let’s go back to a simpler time…

Oh, wow. If I didn’t sound old before, I think I do now! But it’s true…there comes a point when it feels better to embrace a simpler time rather than a complicated past or future. I don’t need to see you doing a handstand on some precarious mountain top where the rock may give way suddenly. I also don’t need to see you in a bathing suit in deathly cold weather looking like you’re actually enjoying the polar vortex. Rather, I do enjoy seeing you having a gorgeous dinner with a loved one and your grandbaby’s toothless grin. I especially love seeing your Fur Baby pics where the only danger looming in the pic is a slobber-filled kiss.

Yes! Memorialize those incredible moments in your life, but safely. In a non-dangerous zone. And with your Fur Baby!

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