Taking selfies is a global phenomenon, with millions of selfies being posted on social media each day across the world. Typically understood as photographs taken by oneself using a smartphone, selfies serve as an avenue to show off a gorgeous outfit for a night out, capture the breathtaking scenery behind, document happy moments, or remember simple random events in life. What’s great is that they’re easy to share and bring a lot of positive impacts to the taker.
Indeed, selfies are a lot of fun. Yet, not all are fond of activity, given the many instances that taking them can also cause some problems, affecting a person’s way of life or putting them in peril. In this article, let’s discover more about the pros and cons of taking selfies, so you’ll know how to get the most of them before you press the shutter button on your phone’s screen.
Pros of Taking Selfies
1. Selfies create physical memories of precious moments
Living your busy life in the present makes it easier for you to forget memories from the past. Luckily, selfies act as an excellent way to create physical memories of your cherished experiences. Perhaps, you’ve taken a selfie on your first trip to Asia, your first mountain climbing adventure, or your reunion with a family member coming abroad. By scrolling through these selfies, you preserve all the memories about your travels, unique experiences, and other special moments and people.
2. Selfies boost self-esteem
You post selfies where you look your best. Of course, it’s an instant confidence booster when you check your notification and receive a substantial number of likes, shares, and positive feedback from your family, friends, and followers. Imagine the gratification if you hit 60 likes in less than an hour? It simply makes us feel great about ourselves.
3. Selfies encourage better connection with the community
Selfies allow you to keep in touch with more people rather than isolate yourself. You show yourself and share your daily life with the world and receive valuable interaction in return. It’s also a good start-up for introverts to reach out to other people without overly going out of their comfort zones. Starting with a few selfies, they can open up about themselves and get positive feedback, making them less exhibiting and encouraging them to do it more often.
4. Selfies allows the expression of emotions or ideas
Selfies transcend being a mere image of yourself as you can use them to express hidden emotions or convey ideas you want the world to know. You can always post happy selfies to serve as a reflection of the happy moments you’re in. Yet, there’s no stopping you to post selfies with a gloomy light or sadder captions if that’s what you’re feeling.
Alternatively, you can also use selfies to impart ideas or valuable lessons, such as capturing how you’ve completed your weight loss journey, being creative and throwing support to a specific cause, or simply feeling positive about yourself – selfies are there so you can express what you think or feel.
5. Selfies are easy to do
One of the biggest advantages of taking selfies is that they’re easy to do! You don’t need any special equipment or professional skills to get the perfect selfie. All you need is your smartphone and a reliable selfie stick to capture the best selfies of yourself, your family, or your friends.
What’s even remarkable is that technology’s advancement is ceaseless and year by year we get to see better cameras and features that make selfie-taking devices easier to use and produce even more adorable and high-quality photos. Plus, you can parade your photo on social media along with a witty caption with just a few swipes, further highlighting how easy it is to snap and share your selfies.
Cons of Taking Selfies
1. Selfies may trigger egocentrism
Selfies often may make people think they’re the center of all things when there’s something bigger to capture. For instance, if you’re visiting the Eiffel Tower, Angkor Wat, Machu Picchu, or the Taj Mahal, remember that it’s not always about you. Taking too many selfies in front of these majestic structures often takes away your opportunity to appreciate their historical importance and innate beauty, just because you’re too self-centered and busy taking the “perfect selfie.”
2. Selfies eat precious time and attention
Apart from missing out on seizing the chance to revel in the awe-inspiring location, taking selfies also consumes much of your precious time, often without you even noticing it. You’re too committed to getting the best angle, avoiding people in the background, or capturing your best look. Thus, requiring you to repeat and take numerous shots just to achieve your desired result. The actual consequence is that you let time slip away and get yourself distracted away from the true beauty that’s unfolding around you.
3. Selfies pose personal information risks
Another major concern about taking selfies is sharing personal information. With your self-portraits going public, you actually shed some light on your personality plus you give anyone a chance to download your photo and misuse it in any way that they like. Not to mention that there are individuals who are not cautious enough, capturing crucial information like their billing name, address, and credit card number, which viewers can also use with ill intent.
4. Selfies can put your life in peril
Some people are too engrossed in taking selfies that they often do ridiculous actions just to get the “best selfie.” It can be from attempting to climb a steep cliff, illegally entering private premises, scaling bridges, or going nearer wild animals. In recent years, hundreds of people died for the sake of a selfie. There’s nothing wrong with taking an amazing selfie, but fully understand the risks and never risk your precious life by going too far.
5. Selfies lead to psychological issues
While selfies can boost self-confidence and promote better connections with others, they can also do otherwise. Negative comments and lack of likes can extremely affect a person, making him or her feel unwanted and killing his self-esteem. Others feel disheartened if the selfies they post about their little triumphs, fun experiences, social lives, and physical appearances are not being appreciated or interacted with by other people on social media.
Moreover, selfies can also make a person live an unreal life, having them attached to their phones throughout the day rather than personally being with friends. Rather than establishing relationships, they get restricted in the virtual world admiring themselves.
6. Selfies can be addictive
Posting a selfie every other day is fine but posting one to two selfies daily and filling your Instagram profile and others’ timeline with your self-portraits is alarming. Truth to be told, taking selfies can turn into an obsession. It can grow over time without you being aware of it and eventually, you just can’t seem to stop it. Remember, there’s a limit to everything.
7. Selfies forces people to alter or fake themselves
With the intention to gain more likes and appraisals, other people tend to alter or fake themselves just to feed their thirst for validation. It can range from altering their natural looks, adapting unnatural styles, or doing weird poses just to fit into what is widely accepted in social media. Others even use beauty apps and photo editing software to look more beautiful and get more “likes.” Remember, you’re already glamorous as you are!
Final Words
Selfies are undoubtedly anywhere! Just make sure you know all these pros and cons of such photography so you’ll never stray too far. Always assess what a selfie means to you and if it displays who you really are and what you feel. Then, stay safe while snapping your shots and you’ll reap all the benefits and fun selfies offer to everyone!