Is the rest of the world more confident than I am, more vain, more photogenic or simply more important? I rarely use my cell phone and when I do it’s certainly not to take a picture of myself posing with my head strategically cocked at a ‘cute’ angle and a giant fake smile on my face. Am I the only person on the planet who fails to see the point in constantly taking pictures of oneself? Who actually looks at them? Who cares? I’ve watched tourists in the Hall of Mirrors in France’s magnificent Palace of Versailles frantically running around snapping endless selfies in the reflected afternoon sunshine, oblivious to the ambience, history and majesty of the space they’re in.
Young people seem incapable of carrying out the most mundane functions of everyday life without capturing the image for posterity? Eating a burger at McDonald’s, posing in front of the Apple store, standing on a street corner waiting for the light to change, even sitting on the subway are now evidently all priceless moments worth preserving in history. We’re even coached on how to pose; head tilted, hand on hip, three-quarter profile; stomach in; tits out. Maybe it’s because I am no longer particularly photogenic and I’m certainly not in any way important in the larger scheme of things but I do not consider myself selfie-worthy. In fact, my attempts earlier this year were so horrifying I required trauma counseling when I saw the results. I think I’ll just restrict viewing of my image to live encounters with close friends, family and store clerks. Call it my contribution to a better world. Is there something I’m missing?
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