The selfie: a closer inspection

[dropcap style=boxed]T[/dropcap]he selfie, an idea so intrinsically linked with the self that one might be forgiven for pronouncing it with a Sean Connery slur.The selfie is not purely a selfish notion however. Rather the true power of the Oxford Dictionaries’ Word of 2013 lies in the latter part of its definition; “a photograph taken of oneself… uploaded to a social media website.” The modern selfie is not a picture confined for one’s own amusement but a method of social interaction, presenting oneself to the wider world.Although the selfie as shared online may be a recent phenomenon, the concept of the self-portrait is one which stretches back throughout time.Whilst self-portraits have been uncovered in civilizations as far back as Ancient Egypt, it was the Renaissance which brought the concept of the self-portrait into public consciousness for the first time, with the likes of Durer and Rembrandt producing consistent self-portraits throughout their lives.In a similar vein to today’s selfie, these self-portraits can be viewed as acts of self-promotion. By showcasing their skills at self-portraiture artists hoped to generate further commissions. The central difference in the modern selfie is that it has no (or very little) artistic merit. The self is both the central object of the selfie and the object being offered for self-promotion, rather than any skill set.The rapid growth of the selfie trend has left researchers behind in assessing whether it is a benign form of social interaction or possesses more serious implications.The meteoric rise of social networks utilising the selfie, such as Snapchat (where globally users now send over 700 million photos and videos on the service every day) are now being used by researchers to investigate its effects.One trend plotted by a group of experts in the ‘SelfieCity’ project is that the behaviour is largely based in young people. Analysing over 2,000 selfies posted on Instagram in five cities across the globe, the project found the median age of the selfie taker to be 23.7.The popularity of the selfie amongst younger generations may not be surprising, but neither is it a trend from which one can draw further inferences. It is a foolish notion to accuse the latest generation of being more narcissistic when they are simply adapting faster to new technologies.Certainly there is an argument that humans as innately social creatures will constantly seek out further opportunities of social interaction, whether these are offered by developing a language or a smartphone.The selfie is more than simply a harmless by-product of the human drive to interact though. It is a more intimate form of photo both in terms of the closeness of the subject and often of the glimpse it offers into a person’s life. It draws others into aspects of a person’s life that are normally sealed off; whether in bed or at funerals, the private is transferred into the public domain.Whilst an erosion of intimacy may be laughed off by many in a culture in which reality television is so predominant, it may also harbour deeper psychological implications. A recent study carried out in conjunction with a number of universities in the UK found that those who frequently share photos on Facebook were at greater risk of damaging real life relationships.Dr. David Houghton, the lead author of the report, explained the effect: “this is because people, other than very close friends and relatives, don’t seem to relate well to those who constantly share photos of themselves. The information we post to our friends on Facebook actually gets viewed by lots of different categories of people… and each group seems to take a different view of the information shared.”The psychological impact of the selfie it seems is twofold; if it has the capability to reinforce existing relationships, then it also has the same ability to damage them. It may be that its capability as a tool for self-obsession or social interaction lies in the hands of the person holding it.Main image: Michael Murphy at Summer Conferrings. Image: Gerard McCarthy.