Social media is now egocentric
Current social media content is no longer doing what it was supposed to do. People are no longer interested in taking part on surveys or topics that concern our society. Gone is the enthusiasm people had to get involved, when posting selfies for the most likes became more a important matter than talking about good and meaningful subjects!
From Mr Joel M. Verona
UAE
The craze will fade
It’s quite true! Today’s selfie has gotten more attention than more important issues and problems. The selfie craze may go on for few weeks or months as people are encouraged to keep posting in the initial days, but my feeling is that in due course this will vanish.
From Mr K. Ragavan Krishnamachary
Bengaluru, India
What’s the harm?
I don’t think we need to be unduly alarmed by this trend. Let’s face it, we all have a streak of narcissism in us. Some of us indulge it and some of us conceal it. If posting selfies gives people a sense of self worth, I don’t see the harm in it. It is up to the discretion of the viewers to pander to their posts or not.
There are far more serious issues that need to addressed. If anything, this can sometimes just be an annoyance, nothing more. So let us not give it any more importance than it deserves.
From Ms Shama Mohammad
Abu Dhabi
It’s up to us to stop it
I don’t know if it will go away so easily. Selfies have been a popular thing for quite sometime. The selfie stick, born from the selfie craze has already been around for a couple years. As long as we keep commenting and sharing, we will give these addicts the rush they are looking for. We can’t succumb to their intention to shock and awe the internet! It’s not healthy and they’re going to hurt someone, or even themselves. Oh wait, as the news has shown us in the past year, they already have.
From Ms Saira Hinton
Ras Al Khaimah
Just ignore it or don’t
Who are they hurting exactly? If people don’t like those friends on Facebook, or whatever social media platform one chooses, who do this type of thing then either tell them so or remove them from your list! I remember reading research on Facebook that, in simple terms, stated that people try to portray their lives as something it is not and that they are continuously happy and doing fun things. This then has the knock-on effect on others reading who wonder where their lives are going wrong; of course, it’s all show and nonsense and people need to get a grip, to be honest.
I, like most people reading this, have friends who post every five minutes on Facebook about their dinners, their children’s activities, fun with their friends, being in the mall, how they are feeling, what they are doing in that precise moment! Are they that insecure with their own existence that they feel the need for constant approval from friends? It’s pretty sad really, what type of generation are we now fostering? Anyway, make sure I get a few likes for this submission.
From Mr Tony Martin
UAE
Picture perfect for narcissists
There is something seriously wrong with people who are always taking selfies and it is called narcissism, which is an excessive or stimulating interest in oneself and one’s appearance. Having studied psychology – this field of science brands it as symptomatic of extreme selfishness and a grandiose view of one’s own talents as well as a craving for admiration as a personality characteristic.
Social media has its good side – helping to find lost ones, spreading warnings and casting news about events, but social media has also become intrusive and a serious distraction from meaningful pastime hobbies and time devoted to sports, fitness and to helping other people.
It is also a shame to have to admit that if you have to take selfies it indicates that you have no friends around you to take your picture and you are not even able to approach a stranger to do this. That is so sad.
From Mr David Woodward
UAE
Reaching out and connecting
Selfies on social media are about creating connections! I don’t understand why people have to look at this new phenomenon with such disdain. Why can’t there be beauty in people reaching out to each other? And, yes, they are reaching out to each other. The world is online and people are expressing themselves. There are characteristics to describe each new generation and, instead of looking at them as narcissists, I choose to look at them as open-minded global citizens that use selfies to create discussion or to laugh with each other, at each other, or even at themselves sometimes – and there’s nothing wrong with that.
From Ms Johanna Peltier
Dubai
Help curb the addiction!
Yes, people are addicted to selfies and we are actually making it more perpetual. People are clicking selfies at the drop of a hat and posting it online to get likes. It is a sort of narcissim I feel and today’s generation is obsessed with telling the whole world what they are doing and hankering for attention. How else would one describe this selfie culture? The height of inappporitateness was at Nelson Mandela’s funeral where the world leaders were shown posing for selfies. It is equally dangerous as any other addiction because people get depressed if they are not appreciated by the number of friends they have on the list.
In the long run this obsession can upset relationships and friendships as people become self-centred to post their selfies. We should ensure that the addiction is curbed. As the saying goes, anything in excess is bad.
From Mr Prasad Warrier
UAE
Responses give a rush
The recent development of social media with its characteristically virtual entity gives users enormous leverage of being physically away from the maddening crowd while maintaining a high profile through social media. It gives an adrenalin rush to the users each time they get a “like” or comment endorsing their pictures or postings.
The new age phenomenon where people who have been characteristically introverts or reticent suddenly find themselves becoming popular with so many “likes” or comments being conferred to their postings must be considered for studies by social scientists.
However, the question related to so many selfies being posted on social networking sites that should be addressed is whether these pictures are available for public viewing. When selfies are uploaded with restricted access it is just a matter of private affairs and if such practises are just meant for fun, they don’t necessarily have to be considered addictive. It could be just that our erstwhile analogue camera pictures taken of family and friends for albums, which we would like to cherish, are now being replaced with digital technology where the images are available in cyber space.
From Mr V. I. Mohammad Sageer
UAE
Causes obsessive behaviour
We can take beautiful images of others and their surroundings with our creativity and with those images we can impress others. But, when we take our own pictures with the same creativity or devices it faces several limitations. Selfies ignore all these limitations. Social media is widely used to share the self-shot images with friends, expecting the maximum possible likes. More comments and more likes mean more people might have noticed the same. The tendency of checking frequently for likes after posting keeps one busy and it’s always an unproductive activity. The success of selifies are measured on the basis of likes one got within a reasonable time. Some people consider this attitude to be an addiction whereas others treat it as creativity.
From Mr Girish R. Edathitta
UAE
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