The Selfie and the Self: In Defence of Duckface (2019)
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https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/soy-boy-face
I personally don't believe it's soy, its just the meme. Don't hate the messenger.
I would say taking a selfie is a form of front stage behavior, albeit a more egalitarian one.
On the other hand I am someone who thought a selfie-stick was a tool for punishment for people taking selfies at inappropriate moments.
I think this hinges on whether the person taking the photo is aware of the people around them at that point in time. If they really aren't thinking about them at all, it's essentially "authentic" back-stage behavior. If you don't realize someone is looking in your bathroom window while taking a shower, you probably can't be honestly claimed to be making a social performance in there.
If they are deliberately considering the people around them when taking the photo is part of the audience for their act, then, yes, it's clearly front-stage behavior.
In practice, it is probably some shade of gray between these two extremes. The line between front stage and back stage is always somewhat blurry.
The conditions it is under might make it into more of a front stage, but given that the selfie itself is front stage the fact that you are not hiding making it is very hard to see as "authentic" back stage behavior.
People might use selfies to practice (back stage behavior), but you will normally never see those and what they do present is obviously fit for front stage.
Yes you might walk into someone practicing with selfies, or accidentally see some practice selfies, but that in itself does not provide better or more reliable information than any other incidental back stage information like seeing someone in the shower.
Now if your point was that selfies invite us to perform too much and practice too little than we are in agreement.
>The thing about this is that sculptures like these in art history were for the male gaze. Photoshop a phone to it and suddenly she’s seen as vain and conceited. That’s why I’m 100% for selfie culture because apparently men can gawk at women but when we realize how beautiful we are we’re suddenly full of ourselves.
agree there can be a double standard, but if there is, it can go both ways
This paper https://www.ntu.edu.sg/home/linqiu/publications/selfie.pdf shows...
> " that selfies reflect their owners’ personality traits. We identified a number of personality-related cues. For example, emotional positivity predicts agreeableness and open-ness, duckface indicates neuroticism, and private location in the background indicates less conscientiousness. These cues reflect the characteristics of their corresponding personality traits"
Meanwhile the article focused on the Oxford dictionary definition of selfie. I'd argue it's far more interesting to look at the urbandictionary definitions - there are over 70 definitions here - https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Selfie some of which are over 10 years old like this one from 2009...
> A picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to Facebook, Myspace or any other sort of social networking website. You can usually see the person's arm holding out the camera in which case you can clearly tell that this person does not have any friends to take pictures of them so they resort to Myspace to find internet friends and post pictures of themselves, taken by themselves. A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face or the individual looking in a direction that is not towards the camera.
Duck face was called "kissy face" back then apparently. Anyway it's interesting to see how a definition on urbandictionary has evolved over time and I'd argue the urbandictionary is a better gauge of groupthink on a topic like this than the Oxford Dictionary.
Wait, I'm struggling with this one. How does showing off a private location (I presume this means someone's home, a bedroom, etc?) indicate that they are less conscientious? The paper says "more conscientious individuals are less likely to reveal their personal space in the background." However, this seems to me like it should be using "cautious" instead of "conscientious". Not being eager to show off your personal space indicates apprehension and carefulness with what you share, I never associated these with conscientiousness.
Although "duck face" was a thing by 2007, evidently it hadn't made it into the vocabulary of that particular Urban Dictionary contributor in 2009: https://www.dictionary.com/e/memes/duck-lips/#:~:text=The%20....
http://panevin.ru/uploads/blog/2016/lenin_selfi_1024-2.jpg
(not only was Lenin a mushroom, but he invented the selfie before the west?)
“You we’re texting and driving. You could have killed someone!”
And if you genuinely believe people posting selfies are narcissists, does this mean you should ignore and keep quiet?
The latter does not seem to clear cut; there are likely better, more positive ways to change behavior. Shame is more likely to make the person get better at hiding their irresponsible behavior, which is actually counterproductive for society.
I'm still not convinced that shame is ever a useful tool.
So we should just use shame appropriately.
But that's all besides the point. Judging by myself only of course, I seriously doubt people shame others because of the duty to higher purpose (making people civilized).
That makes sense to me - do something dumb socially, the repercussions should be social as well.
Shaming has rather drastic negative consequences, especially in communities that shame intelligence, education, gender, race, neurotype, etc.
It's a non-violent tool to shape societal or group norms. If you are in a shitty group (e.g. one that shames education), that doesn't change the argument.
But I feel that’s why people hate it, it’s too clever. Seems to get derided the same way a nerd kid gets beat the fuck up in school.
As an old git (45) it seems strange to me that today's youth have known nothing else but a world where sharing pictures of yourself on social media is the norm. It's like its part of the reason for living.
That said, it can be taken to an extreme. Photos of yourself should always try to be as candid as possible, and you shouldn’t be the main subject every time.
It absolutely bothers people around. If you're in a crowded place, selfie sticks are awful.
A tourist walking around with their phone in a selfie stick has put preparation and forethought into the endeavor. Before leaving their hotel to see some wonder of the world, they consciously thought, "I'm going to take a bunch of selfies today so I can post them on social media and gain influence because I'm somebody." This attitude represents everything many people blame for giving rise to the modern overcrowded tourist destination experience.
I'm sure there exceptions, and some people just like pictures with themselves in them, but this is the impression it gives off. You asked why people hate selfie sticks, and this is a likely reason.
There is a huge leap from being prepared to take a slefie at a famous place to this mentality, posting it anywhere on social media, and especially gaining influence or being somebody.