"Selfies" - WTF is wrong with people ??

Emp_Fab

I don't get it at all.  Why are people, primarily the younger generation, suddenly so obsessed with their own image ?  When I was in Crete recently about three quarters of the people I saw taking photos - of the landscape - were doing it with a 'selfie stick' !!  WTF is that about ?  Who are the intended viewers of the images ? - their friends & family ? - "Here's a photo of me at the beach, here's me in front of the cathedral, me standing in front of the waterfall, me, me, me, me, MEEEEEE!!!!"

This pic says it all...

Heartfeltdawn

Obsessed with their own image, oblivious to things happening in front of their eyes. What's really got me is visiting London this year and seeing people taking selfies with sticks whilst cycling. 

octatonic

Emp_Fab said:

I don't get it at all.  Why are people, primarily the younger generation, suddenly so obsessed with their own image ?  When I was in Crete recently about three quarters of the people I saw taking photos - of the landscape - were doing it with a 'selfie stick' !!  WTF is that about ?  Who are the intended viewers of the images ? - their friends & family ? - "Here's a photo of me at the beach, here's me in front of the cathedral, me standing in front of the waterfall, me, me, me, me, MEEEEEE!!!!"

Christ you are a miserable sod sometimes.
Cheer up, grumpy-bum.

LooseMoose

Image is everything to young ones.  TBH I think it always was, they just have easier, more demonstrable ways of showing it...ever had a really shit haircut?

RocknRollDave

I agree in general, but when it comes to landscapes I think it best to have someone in the photo. Gives a sense of perspective and scale.
I thought I had heard of it being recommended as the "best" way to take photos of landscapes, but I may have imagined that.

Drew_TNBD

kill kill kill kill kill the young

Dopesick

It's an easy attainable morale booster for people who can't be bothered doing and really achieving something that will benefit others. Person takes selfie, posts it on InstaTwittBook, they get a load of pat on the backs, or Likes, and they feel they've contributed something worthwhile making other people happy.

It was only a matter of time, but now the technology is available it's free for consumption. People just want to be part of something. All the time. Every minute and every hour. They just can't get enough.

guitarfishbay

Everyone is their own PR agent these days, and they're selling their lifestyles on Social Media 

Bygone_Tones

social media innit. hey everyone look where i was, look what i was doing.

what annoys me more is when there's an accident or a disaster, and people are just standing around photographing it and filming it instead of helping out. what do they do with that footage? go home and jerk off to it?

last year an old woman got knocked down and crushed by a lorry in our town center on a busy saturday afternoon. she got dragged along the road a few metres and it was a bit of a gory mess. I wasnt there but apparently people were even clambering under the lorry with their phones to get shots.  some people display despicable behaviour in those situations.

also driving back from my holiday this year a motorbike had hit a lorry. our lane was the only one moving slowly past the incident. all other roads blocked by the police. I noticed one woman walk all the way from her car on one of the blocked roads a good half a mile away, right up to the accident. took a few photos on her phone, then walked all the way back. wtf??? 

Fretwired

You can imagine a nuclear war with all these idiots getting selfies with a mushroom cloud behind them ...

lloyd

It's to catch a moment in time that they would like to look back on and remember.

If you've never had a moment in your life you've wanted to record and include a photo of yourself in, then you've a leg to stand on and I feel sorry for you (and any loved ones that would appreciate them) if you have, quit your fucking whining about selfies.

I've said it before on here but recording things in images is something that defines us as human beings and it's something that links us all-from the French cave paintings of Lascaux through to some duck faced bint in da club last saturday, the only difference between them is the technology available.

I think it's great, the opportunity to look back on all your ancestors is something that we'll take for granted in the future-I'd love to be able to look at my Grandparents out on the piss when they first met, but there's no record of it.

Emp_Fab

@lloyd I have plenty of moments in my life that are either in my memories and/or that I have photos of.  There is zero need for my face to occupy any of the image.  I know I was there and I also know what I look like.  What is the logic of a selfie ?

guitarfishbay

lloyd said:

It's to catch a moment in time that they would like to look back on and remember.

That much isn't in question.

The culture of aesthetics is different though, but I do think this is a part of technology.  20 years ago taking 10 shots of the same thing would've been considered a waste of film.  These days everyone has so much data you can keep going until the moment has gone or the subjects of the photo are too bored to continue.

lloyd

Emp_Fab said:

@lloyd I have plenty of moments in my life that are either in my memories and/or that I have photos of.  There is zero need for my face to occupy any of the image.  I know I was there and I also know what I look like.  What is the logic of a selfie ?

People are interested in seeing themselves in the place in question, people are interested in capturing what they look like at any given time.

If nothing else it gives people who love you something to appreciate-I think your Mrs would like to have some pictures of you enjoying yourself if you go before her and vice versa, is it the fact that people take them of themselves that angers you? Why would you give a fuck, I'll enjoy the odd selfie my Mum (when she dies) has taken at various times as much (and sometimes more so) than any staged stand in front of a landmark shot, they're more intimate in some ways.

lloyd

guitarfishbay said:

lloyd said:

It's to catch a moment in time that they would like to look back on and remember.

That much isn't in question.

The culture of aesthetics is different though, but I do think this is a part of technology.  20 years ago taking 10 shots of the same thing would've been considered a waste of film.  These days everyone has so much data you can keep going until the moment has gone or the subjects of the photo are too bored to continue.

People are vain too, that's not a new invention, take 20 shots, keep one and delete the others.

Fretwired

Emp_Fab said:

@lloyd I have plenty of moments in my life that are either in my memories and/or that I have photos of.  There is zero need for my face to occupy any of the image.  I know I was there and I also know what I look like.  What is the logic of a selfie ?

@Emp_Fab ; .. wis awarded. I think the same way ...

ThorpyFX

Dopesick said:

It's an easy attainable morale booster for people who can't be bothered doing and really achieving something that will benefit others. Person takes selfie, posts it on InstaTwittBook, they get a load of pat on the backs, or Likes, and they feel they've contributed something worthwhile making other people happy.

It was only a matter of time, but now the technology is available it's free for consumption. People just want to be part of something. All the time. Every minute and every hour. They just can't get enough.

remember, the pat on the back is just the recce for the knife later

lloyd

Fretwired said:

Emp_Fab said:

@lloyd I have plenty of moments in my life that are either in my memories and/or that I have photos of.  There is zero need for my face to occupy any of the image.  I know I was there and I also know what I look like.  What is the logic of a selfie ?

@Emp_Fab ; .. wis awarded. I think the same way ...

You got any kids that might wish you'd been in a few pictures?
 
Too many people avoid the camera either because they think they look fat, ugly, no makeup or they're the one taking the photo's all the time. It's selfish if you think about it.

Phones have meant my old man is in more pictures now as 90% of our family shots from yesteryear were taken by him-so he's not in them, which is shit, we'll not get that time back, but we could have had more pictures/videos of it.

Bygone_Tones

lloyd said:

People are vain too, that's not a new invention, take 20 shots, keep one and delete the others.

then photoshop the 1 you kept so that you look like a cartoon.

lloyd

Bygone_Tones said:

lloyd said:

People are vain too, that's not a new invention, take 20 shots, keep one and delete the others.

then photoshop the 1 you kept so that you look like a cartoon.

Of course.

DrJazzTap

I saw a couple taking a selfie of themselves in the cinema......I wanted to throw my popcorn over them.
Just live your life and try and create memories imho......I'll go back to my cocoa