As I type the word ‘selfie’, a red line appears underlining it, indicating that it is either an incorrect spelling or a word not recognised by the software. Surely the software can’t be blamed: after all it is a word which only recently joined the lexicon and has quickly become a rage! So much so, that last November it was announced as the word of the year (of Australian origin) by Oxford English Dictionary.
Selfie-clicking celebrities have been in the news throughout the last year — the most infamous being the US President Barack Obama clicking a gleeful selfie with the British Prime Minister David Cameron and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the sombre funeral service of Nelson Mandela. An ‘ussie’ or a ‘groupie’ taken, at the 86th Academy Awards, by the host Ellen DeGeneres and featuring 12 Hollywood celebrities broke all records for being re-tweeted.
I must confess I too have been inspired by the selfie mania. I see around me teenagers and young people, especially girls, merrily posing and pouting into their mobile cameras at the earliest given opportunity. The selfie is uploaded instantly on social network sites. I must also confess now that I’m not very good at clicking selfies. When I eagerly check the outcome either my eyes are all rolled up or I am unable to allow my facial muscles to relax. I then delete it regretfully.
I have arrived at the conclusion that this can simply be attributed to a generational shift in attitudes towards the self. Having grown up in the ’70s and ’80s, we belong to a generation that was rather shy and somewhat self-conscious. We would be embarrassed if caught preening in front of a mirror. We were taught to be modest and not assertive. Today, most young people think nothing of trying out new poses in front of the mirror in a departmental store or elsewhere; they couldn’t care less about onlookers.
Analysing further, I feel Facebook and online social media has boosted this shift from ‘others’ first to ‘me’ attitude. While creating my Facebook account I realised that it was about me as a person, my identity and what I liked or didn’t like (although there’s a great deal that my generation still holds back). And of course, it also required me to upload nice pictures of myself.
That is why I admire the young girls and women of today, who excel at clicking selfies They are confident and uninhibited about their attractiveness. Their selfies display their control over how they want to present their own own images. It is a tool of empowerment and self-assertion. I say more power to them, perverts be damned.
In the meantime, while I struggle to master the art of the selfie, I depend upon my friends and family for ensuring that I don’t run short of profile pictures!
(The author is an Associate Professor of English at Maharaja Agrasen College, Delhi University)
