The Art of the Selfie: How the Internet Has Made Us Attention Seekers

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The selfie is a new trend that was started in the early 21^st century. A selfie is defined as “A photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with

a smartphone or webcam and shared via social media” (dictionary.com). A selfie encompasses the argument that the internet has turned us into attention seekers. No longer must one go out with friends to take a photo or document a family event. Now one can stay at home and post endless amounts of selfies and wait for their phone to gratify them with the fruits of their labor. The selfie trend has become so mainstream that multiple products have been produced to make selfie taking easier. From the selfie stick 

to the selfie lights  






or if you are a Kardashian, a selfie room 



Selfies have proven to be an example of how we as a society have been made attention seekers. According to data from Samsung, selfies make up almost one-third of all photos taken by people aged 18-24 (adweek.com). Over 50% of males and 52% of females have taken a selfie in the past year (adweek.com). Today ran a survey that showed that “65 percent of female teenagers said seeing their selfies on social media actually boosts their confidence. And 40 percent of all teens say social media helps "me present my best face to the world." Selfies push forth the innate need of our generation and our internet obsessed culture to constantly put forth an act or a presentation of ourselves that we think will be positively received by our followers. The internet has pushed forth an egocentric society that is more caught up by what is happening on our screens than what is happening in front of us. I completely agree that the internet has made us attention seekers, so often I find my friends and myself taking a photo for the sole purpose of posting it and being excited or disappointed when the photo receives a certain amount of feedback. The internet has made it so incredibly easy for us to get lost in ourselves. We think we are funny because we can get a certain amounts of favorites on a tweet, we think we are pretty because of the amount of likes we get on an Instagram, we think we are loved because of the amount of people that wish us happy birthday on Facebook. Self worth has become so tied up in our social media habits that as a society our confidence is only virtual.