Selfie — the self-portrait of the digital age has become an urban cultural phenomenon in 2014 leaving autographs outdated. The quick snapshots have become the norm.
Whether it is about flaunting a new hairstyle, telling the world about a brush with a celebrity, a party with friends or visit to a landmark place, clicking selfies is the choice of millions. Showing-off has never been easier. There are apps for it, songs about it and instructions on how to take the best selfie.
We are all at it— Just type “selfie” into the Twitter search bar or take a look at Instagram, where over 90mn photos are currently posted with the hashtag #me. According to Twitter’s top trends of 2014, this year has been declared as the year of the selfie. The term “selfie” has been mentioned more than 92 million times on Twitter – a 500% increase on 2013.
Selfies have changed aspects of social interaction, body language, self-awareness, privacy, and humor, altering temporality, irony, and public behavior. It’s become a new visual genre—a type of self-portraiture formally distinct from all others in history.
Bye Bye Autographs
When superstar Shah Rukh Khan visited St Xavier’s College campus in Kolkata to promote his film “Happy New Year”, no one thrusted pen and paper before him for an autograph.
Instead the ubiquitous phone was pushed near his face for a click which was immediately shared on the Facebook profiles of students.
Australian cricket legend Shane Warne was among the first one to pronounce the death of autographs. In May, he tweeted, “After doing 5 selfies with people this morning before 8am on my morning run/walk I’ve come to the conclusion that the autograph is dead!”
Perfect way to communicate
The modern selfie is the perfect vehicle for a message. Facial expression, after all, is the most critical element to verbal communication.
In December, for example, when the small plane carrying Ferdinand Puentes and eight others crashed into the sea off the coast of Hawaii, Puentes flipped on his GoPro camera, and as he bobbed in the water, captured a photo of himself as the tail of the plane rose out of the sea above his right shoulder. Terror screamed across his eyebrows, his photo announcing, “I was here, and this is how it felt.â€
Selfie hints at a rapidly growing preference for online conversations that prioritize images over words. Clearly, there is a symbiosis between smartphones, social media and selfies.
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The Selfie Culture
A rage across age groups, the cultural phenomenon influenced people from all walks of life – politicians, filmstars, sportsmen, ordinary folks and even the Pope.
During the 16th Lok Sabha elections, Narendra Modi led the trend as his selfies after voting, meeting his mother, etc went viral with a huge number of re-tweets.
Selfies of inked fingers after voting were popular across social networking sites. At convocations across IITs, IIMs and other universities, toppers clicked themselves with their medals.
Selfie-phones having high-resolution front-facing cameras with and those having a 90-degree wide angle were in demand.
Brands were also not left behind in encashing the trend as campaigns revolving around selfies became the coolest way to connect with the youth.
The craze in India mirrored the global scene.
Television show host, Ellen Degeneres’ star-studded Oscar selfie, dubbed as the “Golden Tweet,” was retweeted more than 3 million times, making it the most shared message ever on Twitter.
UK reported heavy demand for selfie-sticks’ that allow camera phones to be extended up to a metre away for group shots and panoramic images.
The craze went beyond humans as a monkey snatched camera from British nature photographer David Slater and ended up clicking selfies which went viral globally.
The selfie trend also threw up awkward moments as tourists posed for insensitive photographs outside the cafe in Sydney where gunmen had held people hostage.
Declared the 2013 word of the year by Oxford Dictionary, selfie is believed to have coined by an Australian university student in 2002.
Many critics dismiss selfies for promoting a social behaviour of narcissism and self-obsession. Even in Haj, conservative clerics raised their voices against posing in front of the holy site during the annual pilgrimage.
However, the bottom line is the viral selfie phenomenon will grow along with our need to share our experiences with others and continue to be a part of our digital and evolving society.
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