Selfies - chavvy, great, or somewhere in the middle?

[malumbu]

Just returned from a holiday and one of our group took dozens of selfies. Never take them, find them dreadful pictures with the one face in the foreground, intrusive, and would rather stop a stranger and get them to take a nice picture. Trouble is they've run off with my various i-phone 13s and Samsung 22 ultras when I've tried this. Joke.

Is it a case of just go with it, there are bigger battles to fight? And if you have a less pejorative term than Chav please suggest it and I will change the title.

[TheCat]

Dont downplay it Mal. Perhaps unbeknowst to you, when you crafted your OP...the selfie is a manifestation of one of the biggest social issues of our age....the Social-Media driven march of the population towards narcissism....

Lets put it very bluntly....when people used to go one holidays prior to the Selfie Age, they would take photos of things they saw on their holiday, or shots of friends and family together enjoying the holiday, and of course a random few shots of a travelling collegue standing awkwardly in front of a selection landmarks/tourist attractions. There was nothing stopping people 'back then' from turning the camera around and taking a 'selfie', but they didnt. We were good people back then. (okay, to be fair...maybe a Canon SLR was tricky to hold in one hand, and you'd also never know if you'd even got in the shot properly until 2-3 weeks after your holiday once the film was developed and came back from the photo place...but...details....)

Nowadays...all those same photos are taken...i.e. things you see on holiday....but with the new addition of the protagonsist's oversized head in the foreground, and (crucially) with an appropriatley overemphasised/manufactured expression displayed on their face, so that when others view the picture on social media, the focus becomes all about what the person who posted it was 'feeling' at at the time, rather than what the photo is actually mena to be of. Its quite amazing how some people can make a photo of some of the world's most sacred, impressive and historic landmarks all about them.....

(For the avoidance of doubt....I am partially tongue in cheek with my comments above....but also partially not....)

[diable rouge]

Tongue in cheek or not, Cat's right about the march towards narcissism, except I think many are already there, they even voted in a narcissist-in-chief in the States

I don't mind teenagers doing it, probably all part of growing up/finding your identity etc, as a kid it was normal once in a while to pop down to a passport photo booth with a mate(s)/girlfriend for some 'pulling faces' snaps, but it was a stage that you eventually grew out of.

Have noticed that disposable cameras with film have become trendy with teenagers, also modern takes on Polaroids, so maybe all is not lost...

[KidKruger]

return to oil painting I say, that'll put an end to it all !!

[Spartacus]

Have you noticed the rise in apps that farm your face (face changer or face drawing apps) that process your data and image?

Imagine what a valid resource online photos are despite how weird the camera makes us all look.

[diable rouge]

KidKruger Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> return to oil painting I say, that'll put an end

> to it all !!

Rembrandt's ''Dick Pic Period'' is hard to beat...

[sspringer]

The big face in the foreground is a big turn off for selfies so can someone recommend a good selfie stick for use with Android .That is one with a button on the end of the stick that can be used to take the photo?

[Sephiroth]

Have your own opinion about selfies

But ?chavvy? in the context of the title of this thread is grim

It?s a polluted term that refers to a specific social class and if you wanted to talk about that then by all means do

But it has nothing to do with selfies - selfies exits across every single demographic.

[wordsworth]

Aren't we glad we have someone to comment on selfies... *fs

[NewWave]

I hate selfies and find it really idiotic that people need to mug at the camera with a landmark of some kind in the background as if to say 'I woz ere"...

Personally I'd rather look at photos of the grand canal, the alps, pyramids or wherever without someone pulling a fake grin or pose in front of them.

[Alan Medic]

Speaking for no one but myself, I tend to think humans can spoil a good photograph. I know I can.

[Waseley]

Visited Venice during Carnival ten years ago. It was absolutely wonderful. Returned a few years later and selfie sticks blocked your view. Dunno what you can do about it ... Won't go to big gigs any more. When Red Arrows flew by the Mall most people were recording it. Apart from our Liz!

[malumbu]

Sephiroth Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Have your own opinion about selfies

>

> But ?chavvy? in the context of the title of this thread is grim

>

> It?s a polluted term that refers to a specific social class and if you wanted to talk about that

> then by all means do But it has nothing to do with selfies - selfies

> exits across every single demographic.

Then please suggest another word, as per OP you will find I didn't think it was appropriate.

[Sephiroth]

Selfies - [insert word], great or somewhere in between?

As a word puzzle it?s not too tricky

?Terrible?

?Awful?

Any other synonym that doesn?t single out an unrelated group of people

[Snorks]

.

[diable rouge]

Snorky, you're supposed to 'sign on' in the Where is Everybody thread first...

[Snorks]

The train to whitstable is a calling

[Earl Aelfheah]

I don't get why people want 100s if not 1000s of close up pictures of their own face. Behaviours that would have been considered so narcissistic as to cause you to worry for your friends well being / mental state not so long ago, now seem common place.

I've seen several places (bars, restaurants, 'experiences') which appear to have been set up almost exclusively for the Instagram opportunities. Some people appear happy to have very few unmediated, authentic experiences.

I sound very old :-)

[teddyboy23]

I don't do selfies.but I must say I do look good with a pout