It was almost 4pm in the evening. I heard my mother calling me to the balcony. I went there and she was looking at a group of teenage boys(they must be hardly 17 year olds) too busy clicking photos of themselves in the garden which was in front of the building we stayed in."What on earth are they even doing?" she asked me with utter disgust. "They are just clicking pictures or selfies,Amma." I said grinningly. "I know", my mother snapped, "but these guys are just obsessed.Looks like all they care about is how their photographs would look.This generation is obsessed with selfies."
I came back to my room to check my Instagram. Ahaa..The number of likes for my selfie have doubled since the last time I checked it. With delight and satisfaction, I started scrolling down my phone's gallery to see if I had other good pictures of mine in store or not. No good pictures found. I started clicking photos of myself with the hope of ending up with a good selfie. Time passed by. Hard luck. I don't know why or when but my mom's words suddenly hit me. Am I just one of the selfie obsessed persons she earlier spoke in contempt about? Umm..Maybe yeah.
Being an electronic engineering student myself, I understand what kind of geniuses must have come up with these mind boggling smart phones. Just hold your smartphone, turn the camera on and voila,you are the paparazzi. But has too much of user friendly smartphone technology turned people (especially teenagers) into attention seeking narcissists?
I remember reading an article about this selfie obsessed generation. Turns out, if not taken care of in time, this might actually turn into a chronic mental disorder. They had also given an example of a British teenager who was so obsessed with clicking a perfect selfie that he approximately clicked 200 pics of himself everyday. Deprived of proper sleep and food, he had to be admitted to a hospital.OK, now that's an extreme case of the "selfie disorder".(Thank God, I am not there yet!)I mean ,come on!!! Even our honourable PM is busy out there clicking selfies!
I think we have just become too self obsessed with ourselves and our looks. It's like social media and the number of likes we garner for our photos decide how we look. That's why we strive to click better pictures of ourselves to feel more confident and increase our self esteem.But, does this virtual world of social media really play any role in making us feel more confident and beautiful? After some deliberation, I think NO.
So, I have vowed to do something. I want to stay away from these selfies for a while. I know it won't do me any good(also one of my favorite songs happen to be The Chainsmoker's "Selfie", damn!!)I was unknowingly building up a habit. Who knows when this habit might turn into an obsession? I would also urge you readers (if you too are in the "selfie obsessed" league) to stop it right away. Let's just not turn into some selfish, beauty conscious mere creatures.Well, it's better late than never.
So, in closure, I'd like to say my usual lines(hahaha). Thanks for reading and have a good day ahead. :)
P.S. : The word selfie has also been included in the latest version of the Oxford dictionary.
