Analysis: Narcissism and Selfies

What is a Selfie? 

Whatever your feelings are -- bored, excited, sad, happy, etc. you can record them with a selfie, and let the picture do the talking. Whatever your news are -- cut your hair, pierced your nose, got a new tattoo – selfies can speak for you louder than words. If you want to make a duck face – whatever that may suggest– you can snap a selfie and share it on social media.
 Hence, a selfie simply means a photograph of yourself, clicked by you. “[The selfie] is a genuine image, created privately with minimal filtration” (browntourage.com, 2014). The selfie is so popular that recently the term has been added in the Oxford Dictionary and named the term of the year in 2013: “Selfie (informal)-- A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media” (‘selfie’, 2015). “The “ie” at the end makes selfie a diminutive, which generally implies some affection and familiarity. [Thus], a selfie is a ‘little’ self, an aspect of identity”(Rutledge, 2013). Or else, “selfies . . .are about awareness of our own self-awareness (blog.oup.com, 2013).
From this standpoint, there are numerous people wondering whether the selfie is not a product of too much self-awareness: “Taking selfies is routinely derided as narcissistic, a procedure of solipsistic self-regard in which one obsesses over one’s own image” (Horning, 2014). Hence, the purpose of this article is to explore five variations of selfies, based on photo content and details, in order to get the whole picture in terms of the selfie meaning, and to appreciate if, indeed, its popularity is related to narcissism.


The Duck Face

 Same as the selfie, the term duck face (informal) is a new entry in the Oxford Dictionary as it has been introduced in December, 2014: “An exaggerated pouting expression in which the lips are thrust outwards, typically made by a person posing for a photograph” (‘duck face’,2015; blog.oxforddictionaries.com, 2014).
 Seeing this official explanation of the term, one can see the connection between the trendy image of a model or celebrity (who is trying to promote her physical qualities) thus, suspecting her of a narcissistic self-awareness. Maybe that is why, the duck face“generate a surprisingly strong reaction of either love ‘em or hate ‘em responses” (Rutledge, 2013). By the same token, the expression is usually associated with “attention-seeking teenage girls”(Davies, 2014) who try to imitate models and actresses with pouty lips: “[Duck face] is forged through standards of beauty, made all the more relevant in an era of photographic disclosure, and then punished for its inauthenticity, for its effortful display of that which is supposed to be effortless” (Davies, 2014).
 Moreover, besides its pejorative meaning, the duck face is an interesting posture itself, as it seems that it goes hand in hand with the selfie: The duck face represents “an expression that only exists in relation to the existence of cameras . . . So accustomed are we to the selfie that we have forgotten a simple truth — no one makes that face in real life (patheos.com, 2013).

However, the picture in the example brings another meaning to the duck face selfie: The boy is showing a spontaneous playfulness …just because he is taking a selfie! His choice to make a duck face may be related to the fact that he is in his comfort zone (perhaps at home), with familiar persons around (friends, parents, brothers, grandparents, etc.) who may find the duck face amusing.
 As a viewer, one can say that the kid is well accustomed to the digital technology (he is wearing ear buds, maybe a Bluetooth connected to his phone), and he seems to know how to adjust his device in order to take a pretty good selfie picture (notice the quality in terms of white balance, brightness, framing and posing, etc). Definitely, his reasons to adopt a duck face when taking selfies are beyond the idea of mimicking models or actresses, hence, his only motive might be just that: Duck face is cool! Therefore, this picture may be a perfect example to show that the duck face posture is not related to any narcissistic behaviour.

The bathroom selfie 

Like the duck face, this type of auto portrait is representative for the selfie type as pictures taken in the bathroom became popular the moment people figured out how easy and funny is to snap pictures of themselves with a smartphone or a cam and share them on social media.

The bathroom selfie is one of the selfie versions that makes us wonder to what degree we allow digital technology to be part of our intimate life, and whether this has not aggressively invaded our private spaces. From this standpoint, one can argue that a narcissistic behaviour may be involved here as people taking selfies in bathrooms may easily give up to their private lives in order to be famous on social media.
On the other hand, it may be some other reasons than narcissism for the selfie-takers to use the bathroom as a photo setting. For instance, because the bathrooms are usually equipped with large mirrors, and the selfie is a “do it yourself” picture, one reason may be the fact that the mirror allows the author to see the artefact from a different angle, from the spectator’s point of view.

 What is the audience thinking? For me, this picture would be a nice selfie if the camera is raised up and moved towards the left. This way, the image is framed above the sink, and no one could guess that the selfie has been taken in a washroom. Therefore, nobody would suspect of narcissism this bathroom selfie guy.

The Gym Selfie 

Like duck face, this type of selfie is “just another selfie in a sea of selfies” (Rutledge, 2013). Similar to the bathroom selfie, the background of the picture plays an important role as it sets the environment -- deprived of the background context, this selfie eventually loses its meaning.

To understand whether any narcissistic behaviour may be disguised within this type of selfie, it is good to mention that some experts argued that “there is a connection between taking selfies and mental illness and suggest that those regularly looking for the perfect angle of themselves to snap may in some instances be suffering from a confidence-related mental health condition" (Ramachandran, 2014).
 Because the selfie is a genuine picture with “minimal filtration”, and the gym selfie-taker -- like the one in the example -- is obsessively looking for a perfect angle of herself, as a viewer, one may be inclined to say that this type of selfie hides some narcissistic aspects behind it.
 However, based on the experts’ idea of mental illness, to determine if this particular gym selfie, represents a narcissist who suffers from a mental disorder, she eventually had taken before hundreds of similar instances.

Therefore, to better comprehend the gym selfie taker’s intentions, and to determine if it is a case of narcissism, it is recommendable to know if the selfie is part of a larger set of similar instances. To establish the gym selfie in this context is necessary, especially because, contrary to what people tend to believe, it has been proven that “people take less selfies than often assumed (selfiecity.net, n.d.).

The Usie

Another form of popular selfie that appears often on the internet is the us-ie or usie. Usie represents a collective selfie, therefore, at least two human faces appear in the photo.

“Usies are of the opinion that two is better than one” (Shontell, 2014), so it is possible that this type of selfie will eventually become even more popular than the regular selfie (Shontell, “Step aside, selfies. A new type of picture is taking over social media streams”, 2014).

For this particular picture, if considered that the suffix “ie” at the end of the word is associated with familiarity and affection, as Rutledge (2013) suggests, one can argue that Pope Francis’s openness to the new technology, and his will to participate in taking selfies, may be a reason for his popularity among young people. Obviously, while taking selfies (or usies), the Pope shows his affection and empathy towards his young partakers.
Subsequently, from the audience’s point of view, it is not an overstatement to claim that the Pope (or The Catholic Church, in general) encourages the creation of the selfie on social media. From this standpoint, would be difficult to affirm that the selfies are a way of narcissistic expression.

The Pet Selfie

With the animal acting as the main character in the picture, the pet selfie is another popular variation of the selfie. Why do people love pet selfies? Because they love their pets and hope that their beloved friend will become a celebrity someday.

Other reasons for the pet selfie’s popularity can be the fact that the pet owners are willing to advertise online their pets’ qualities, how cute they are, or maybe to participate in different animal contests or to raise money for charities.

Definitely, all these reasons cannot be related to narcissism, egocentrism, not even to self-awareness as the animal gets the whole attention in this particular selfie type. Therefore, it is not a mistake to argue that this type of selfie cannot be suspected of narcissism.

 After analysing five variations of selfies, this article concludes that selfies provide great ways of self-expression thanks to technology. The selfies’ abundance on the internet is related to these days technology’s ease of access, and not to mental disorders, such as narcissism, as some people may believe.


 References

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