With young adults constantly facing the camera, schools and parents need to find creative ways to instill the value of self-worth to the selfie generation.
On a recent Monday morning, Clare Harper’s cousin sent her a picture of herself for “Selfie Monday” via Snapchat, a texting and image-sharing service that deletes pictures soon after they are sent.
Harper, 18, responded with a selfie of her own, except instead of posing to capture her best angle as her cousin had done, she contorted her face into something between silly and scary.
With the photo she texted, “This is what I think of selfies.”
Still in her pajamas and not yet out of bed, Harper was already receiving images from friends.
She was also being given the opportunity to take and share photos of herself.
Selfies, pictures taken of oneself usually with a smartphone and then shared over a social media app, are just what she and her peers do, she says.
They generally don’t give it a second thought.
“If you want to have a normal Facebook page, you’re going to have pictures of yourself on it,” she says.
Anything otherwise would be weird.
She’s nonchalant, unassuming.
It’s not that there’s much pressure to post pictures, she assures. It’s just the norm.
On the one hand, having a profile picture helps friends to know they’re connecting to the right person on social networking sites.
On the other hand, especially if you’re female, that picture had better look good.
“What you look like is what’s defining you. It’s like you’re defined by how pretty you are. This is me because this is what I look like,” Harper says. Continue reading
Source
- Meghan Murphy-Gill in U.S.Catholic
Meghan Murphy-Gill is a writer living in Chicago.
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