Theories of self, serve to examine the ideologies of the actual self as well as the self that one hopes to develop and express in the future. According to Bargh, McKenna & Fitzsimmons, “Variation on one’s self are concerned with future, potential versions of self that do not yet exist in real time,” (2012, p. 34). It is this potential self that is perhaps the most applicable to the discussion of how selfies are used to create and control self image through the act of capturing and sharing self images online.
This blog will will examine the role that digital technology plays in shaping the nature of self, through the art and act of taking a selfie. This concept will be explored through an analysis using power, production, representation and identity as an underlying foundation to explore five categories of selfies:
1. Selfie as a powerful message
2. Selfie as documentation of a passing moment
3. Selife as identity formation
4. Selfie as a brand
5. Selfie as an interruption
