20 Days of Chill - Selfie Nation

Day 11 of A 'lil HooHaa's 20 Days of Chill!

Today's prompt is 

Selfie Nation

What an interesting topic. I'm wondering who the "nation" is. I feel selfies and the "mobile culture" have been taking over the world. 


The world population is going on 7.5 billion people. 

There are numerous articles on how many mobile devices are out there, so I am not sure which figure is accurate, but it looks like 80% of the world population owns one or more phones, tablets and / or notebooks - I know it's true for me. I do like my gadgets, and I admit I spend a lot of time on Facebook, but compared to other people I'm actually doing pretty well where common courtesy is concerned.

I make an appointment, and I arrive on time. The fact that I own a mobile phone and I am able to text "running late" doesn't make me entitled to let other people wait. I am able to enjoy a meal and a conversation entirely without swiping and typing. I hate when my husband comes home and parks his phone next to his plate. I have been known to threaten to throw the d*** thing out. It's not that he's a food blogger and needs to take pictures and notes of the stuff I cook.

I could go on and on, but let's focus on the selfie hype. I did a bit of googling on why people like taking and posting them, not without asking myself why I do it on occasion. Usually I don't because I look stupid on them, and the last one I posted in early October at NYNY, Las Vegas is no exception. I think I was just jet-lagged and tipsy enough to find it funny, though. 

Experienced selfie takers would probably tell me to get a selfie stick so I won't look stupid. It has to do with the camera being too close to my face, they might say. No kidding.

I usually take a before and after picture on hair appointment day. My profile picture on Google is an after selfie I am pretty happy about. Being happy is probably my trigger. I sometimes find myself out and about, usually with the little man, and I want to capture that moment. This is an "ussie" we took after picking a pair of skates for him and trying them out.

Let's talk about the selfie stick for a minute. From time to time I watch some vlogs. There aren't many I really like, and that's probably because most I have come across are dull. People with damp hair saying "hi guys, I just hopped out the shower and wanted to say hi, I'm running late, I have to go to XYZ, blablabla". You get to watch people walking around at the supermarket with their selfie stick, talking to their viewers while buying groceries. What's the point in that? Are our own lives even more boring? Will we feel more fancy the next time we stride through the dairy section because of this vlogger?

Oh, and the ones who do Periscope but are not able to focus on their message (that's probably cause they don't have one anyway) and instead fumble with their hair and go "hi to London, hello to Omaha, wow, welcome to my viewer from Hawaii, I've always wanted to go there, is it nice?"

Many of the articles on why people post selfies are talking about defining one-selves, boosting one's self-esteem, being noticed, being important, being part of a group, on and on they go. I liked this simple explanation by Ryan Maher: 

We want to 

• Be loved
• Be accepted
• Matter
• Connect

Have we come to that? We matter because we receive X amount of "likes" for a stupid selfie? 

Hubby's Goddauther who is 10 years old wanted some girly magazines for Christmas. They are all very pink and very glitzy, and every edition comes with a bracelet, a miniature purse or some other accessory. Every edition also comes with an oversized poster of a teenie star, and one particular edition came with a poster featuring the most famous youtubers. 

Youtuber is actually a thing, a job? "You would be surprised" she told me. "Many guys make a fortune just talking about the stuff they create in Minecraft." Hmmmm, maybe I should get Colin to do that? 

Nope.

I don't know about you, but I'd much rather be accepted or even loved for doing something more substantial. We can't all be Mother Theresas, Ghandis or Mandelas, but we can be decent people who help each other out. We can be good parents, cooks, painters or writers. 

And while we all love favorable reviews, high bidders and tons of loyal followers, I hope it isn't the only source of affirmation we base our self-worth on! We may touch the subject again in our 19th post about Popularity.

But first things first. Don't forget to leave me comment. Love selfies? Hate selfies? Take them all the time? 

Also check out the other selfies serious posts that my colleagues published! Tomorrow we'll talk about Stress. If you're not too stressed out, I hope you'll make your way back here to see what we have come up with. 

PS: guess what I woke up to this morning:

Kids LOVE to take selfies!