My Facebook news feed is any interesting place.
Interesting because some of my ‘Friends’ are redefining the term interesting with
pictures of their restaurant food taken. It is packed with sunsets and sunrises
and many, many pairs of feet stretching out across a sunbed and sand toward
clear, blue sea. And, of course, there is a never ending stream of ambiguous
three word posts as they embrace the strange concept of Vague-booking. Primary
amongst all these, though, is the selfie, an image of the person taken by the
person. From holidays to bars, the office to the living room, the selfie knows
no bounds.
What are they trying to tell me? Are they proving that
they are there in case I doubted them or are they simply ensuring that that
when they look back on a special event they are included in the visual
memories? If either of these were true for all selfies then that would be fine;
frequently irritating, but fine. The
situations, though are often not special and the selfies rather desperate
looking. A pained expression that says ‘don’t forget me’ rather than the
implied ‘doesn’t this look like fun I am having’. What does the selfie achieve?
Do we want recognition? To affirm we are included and remembered? Or is it
about validation? To let others know we’re “out there” really living – all the
time?
Perhaps, as we get closer and closer to more people
through social media we are actually feeling a sense of disconnect. As much as
we reach out to make contact with friends and family scattered across the globe
we are feeling a break in that contact. So much social media posting, sharing
and liking might actually be replacing real contact with a lazy deluge of
virtual engagement.
So, within this, where is the selfie, what is the purpose? In those slightly keen, maybe even desperate eyes,
staring back at me through my Facebook feed I sometimes think I notice a
pleading to be seen. Not viewed, liked or shared but just seen. Buried amongst
all those updates some people are feeling lost and forgotten; just one more
post in a long line of posts that talk about
us but do not know us. The selfie says see
me, know me and maybe even meet with me because I have lost contact with you.
Not every selfie is a plea, even when stressed from the
end of a selfie stick. But it could be a prompt to seek some real contact, to
reach out and connect with a friend and enjoy actually knowing them.
This article first appeared in Gallery Magazine.
