Feature: SELFIE

Trend is an integral part of the society. It defines the generation’s taste. “Weird” to the old, “cool” to the young. Trends influence people not just a particular place but the whole world. It changes culture and changes people’s perspectives. What may be considered unacceptable and absurd before becomes the “widely accepted” and “loved” now.

“Selfie” is a neologism that pertains to a self-portrait usually taken by a camera phone or a digital camera. Selfies are posted online through social networking sites like facebook, instagram, twitter, myspace, etc. Robert Cornelius is the first known person to take a Selfie way back 1839 when he produced a daguerreotype (an image taken from the reflection of a bright mirror-like silver) of himself.

In 2011, David Slater a nature photographer travelled to Indonesia to take pictures of what they call the Celebes Crested Macaques or simply known as the Black Ape. A female macaque run off stealing his camera and took several photos and soon the camera was retrieved containing numerous Selfies of female macaques which was later distributed as the “Monkey Selfie” and later has debates with its copyright.

 It has its peak in 2012, when Selfie was included in the “Top Ten Buzzwords” of the year considered by Time Magazine and in 2013, Selfie was announced as the “Word of the Year” by the Oxford English Dictionary. With Selfie being trendy and still “in” today, continuous innovation to smartphones with downloadable apps enhancing Selfies are being made and phones having front cams seem to be a must.

From Selfie comes a new “Group Selfie” that also led to the invention of a Selfie pole or commonly known as the “Monopod” invented by QuickPod. Group Selfies are known as “Usies” termed by the Daily Dot and TMZ or “Groufie” by Huawei Technologies or “Wefie” originally trademarked by Samsung.

From Selfies taken for flattery, Selfies evolved and became not just for flattery but also for humor – which started year 2010, and is also feared to be relating to narcissism and over-sexualization. Selfies now evolve from a simple self-portrait to a self-expression. With Selfie influencing so much to this generation, even Philippines gets hooked and became the “The World’s Selfie Capital” with 258 Selfie-takers per 100,000 people followed by Manhattan in New York with 202 Selfie-takers per 100,000.

It is fun to share happiness with other people online but we have to make sure that we are not invading others’ privacy. It is important that we consider the welfare of others – avoiding humiliating them. Whatever the purpose of posting online – may it be for humor, for sharing happiness or earning appreciation or even expressing yourself; we should be mindful of our actions because indeed our posts are online fingerprints once you have posted it, you may have deleted it but the world had already seen it. It is important that we respect ourselves for others to respect us too.