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The rise of the selfie

selfie: a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically one taken with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website.




I'm not sure about you but I only heard about this word "selfie" a few months ago, surprisingly at Colour Conference.  As part of this whole girly Hillsong event, Bobbie Houston and team arranged for this huge wall full of flowers and she joked saying "Now you may all go and take a selfie and upload it on Facebook, Instagram..." And I seriously thought she invented that word because I haven't heard it from anywhere else.

And then this week I read that this word has officially made it to the Oxford dictionary as part of their quarterly online update (not originating from Bobbie Houston, no).  This phenomenon is definitely on the rise and let's admit it - you and I have all done a selfie at some point in time. hehe.

Yesterday at the Heathrow lounge, I grabbed a copy of Stylist magazine (a free UK women's magazine which I try to read whenever I can) and - surprise, surprise - it has an article on the selfies.  They interviewed a few ladies on why they upload so many selfies, which is pretty interesting.

This is truly the age of the social media explosion and to some, not having a Facebook account might mean you are akin to a caveman in today's context.  I mean, even my dad now has a Facebook account and is actively liking my photos every now and then.  (I guess it's a great tool for him to know what I am up to over the other side of the world.)  And on top of that you have twitter, Instagram... technology has certainly taken over our lives and I think it's unhealthy that when K and I wake up, the first thing is not even to say good morning to each other first or have a cuddle; but instead we reach out for our phones.  I always complain to him saying he loves his iPad more than me! *roar* It is really a bad habit which we are working on improving it.  I read another separate article, also from Stylist, where they interviewed the lady who started Huffington Post.  She believes in having a technology-free bedroom.  She said many of her friends come up with excuses about needing the alarm function and hence cannot leave their phone anywhere else other than their bedside table, but she thinks that is a weak excuse.  She then started buying proper alarm clocks for them to prove her point!  I suggested to K doing that too and his first reaction was the same: No we need the alarm clock! Maybe I should seriously buy a real alarm clock too and work towards a technology-free bedroom.

Anyways, back to my topic.  Here is the link to the interesting article:

http://www.stylist.co.uk/people/the-psychology-of-selfies


Just thought I'd share this interesting fact today.  (Wait, or am I one of the last to knowwhat a selfie is??)

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