By SAVANNAH TILLMAN
Columnist
Hair is done, check. Makeup’s looking fantastic, double check. Outfit looking fresh, definitely a check. Time to take a selfie. Can anyone say checkmate?
The selfie world has taken over, from Facebook to Instagram to Snap Chat. No one can go a day without seeing a selfie or taking one themselves. With the access of taking a simple photo on their smart phone and simply pushing a button to send it directly on the Internet it’s hard to resist this growing epidemic. According to adweek.com over one million selfies are posted a day and the age group that is the usual culprit is 18-24.
With the growing rate of selfies there should be some dos and don’ts to think about when posting one. Do show off that new outfit but please keep it modest. Don’t post your latest cleavage or butt shot that draws the wrong attention to yourself. Do post pics with your friends going out and having fun, but don’t post them if you’re all doing something stupid or illegal. Do smile for the camera but keep the duck faces to a minimum. Don’t post pictures of you crying/ mad and don’t put a caption that says can’t do this anymore or how much you hate someone. Everyone has their own problems and nobody wants to see you feeling sorry for yourself.
The biggest don’ts of taking a selfie is for goodness sake, don’t take a bunch every day. No one wants to see a step-by-step of how your day is going. A couple is fine but when you get to posting one every hour or 20 times a day, people tend to get annoyed. Ali Kirtley, a senior here at Northwestern, says, “I don’t mind selfies themselves as far as the concept and the need to admire yourself…But the excess of say, 15 a day, that is a bit much.”
Selfies are taking over the media and that also puts pressure on people to post the perfect selfie. This also causes people to pay more attention to their looks than focusing on the world around them. Posting multiple ones often it causes friends, family, and peers to think less of someone then they are. Self-confidence is everything and if you let a picture define who you are, then what else is there? Amanda Cutsinger, another senior here at Northwestern, says, “People become self-conscious of their selfie if it looks bad and will tend to put themselves down a bit more.”
Regardless if you take selfies or don’t, the main thing to think about is keep your head held high, don’t worry about your looks and enjoy the world around you. Love taking a good selfie every now and then, but don’t let it ruin your life. If you are one that takes them multiple times a day, just tone it down a bit and always think before posting them and ask yourself would you want your grandmother seeing this picture. The “Selfie Game” doesn’t look like it’s going anywhere, so remember, common sense is key. Keep it classy, not trashy, Northwestern.