Title: Controlling selfie habit is important.
General purpose: To persuade
Specific purpose: To persuade my audience to control themselves from the craziness of selfies
Central idea: The craziness of selfies may lead to mental health and therefore we need to control it or we will be affected by it.
INTRODUCTION
According to Diefenbach and Christoforakos (2017) from their article; The Selfie Paradox, a selfie is a self-potrait photograph of oneself (or oneself and other people), taken with a (phone) camera held at arm’s length or pointed at a mirror that is usually shared through social media.
Selfies have become ernomously popular and it is nearby impossible to visit any social media site without seeing our friend’s faces in close up.
Selfie is a mark of the modern world. Just about everyone with a smartphone has a gallery full of personal photos.
I have done some research on this issue. Even in my house, more than ten selfies are taken by my sister in just one day.
The Google statistics in 2014 reported about 93 billion selfies taken per day, which this counting only Android phone users. According to a poll with 3,000 people, among those aged 18-24, every third picture taken is a selfie.
Universiti Malaya consultant psychiatrist Assoc. Prof Dr Rusdi Abd Rashid said the trend of taking selfies had yet to be classified as a chronic mental illness but it had reached a worrying level (Lai, 2020).
If we keep taking selfies every day at this rate, our social media will eventually be filled with selfies more than what you can see now.
So that is why we should control our craziness of selfies.
We need to control the craziness of selfies because it will affect our mental health as according to motivation expert and counsellor Hushim Salleh, reported by Sinar Harian (2018), individuals obsessed with taking selfies, even to the point of risking their lives are lacked of love in their childhood.
A study conducted in the United Kingdom and India on 225 youths showed that 65% of them have the Selfitis Behaviour Scale (SBS) problem according to Assoc. Prof Dr Rusdi Abd Rashid (Lai, 2020).
The SBS states that those who take at least six selfies and upload it on their social media accounts daily are classified under chronic selfitis (obsessive selfie taking).
Acute selfitis are those who do it at least three times a day while borderline selfitis are those who take selfies but do not upload them on social media.
So today, I would like to persuade everyone of you here to control our habit of taking selfies because it will affect our mental health and has a major impact on our self-esteem.
BODY
Well, let me tell you why you need to control your craziness of selfies.
Selfies encourage self-criticism.
In contrast to “normal”, authentic photographs with natural facial expressions and poses, the participants in the study by Lobinger and Brantner (2015) judged selfies with clearly recognizable poses (example: duck face, posing in front of a mirror) as inauthentic way of showing off, often imitating role models from star and celebrity culture rather than showing one’s time self.
When you take a selfie, you are forcing yourself to evaluate your appearance.
Unlike the “old days” when you had to wait for a photo to be printed, you can instantly view a photo you take before sharing it with the world. You will instinctively examine the photo and find flaws in your appearance.
It is the same process as when you see someone starring at you from across the room, you will become aware of your posture, hair, clothing or anything that may look wrong to someone else.
The only difference with a selfie is that you are the one casting judgement.
Secondly, craziness of selfies will affect our social interaction.
This may diminish the experience of the moment itself or even cause social conflict while being totally immersed in the mission of taking the perfect selfie.
Aiming for the perfect shot of oneself in front of a perfect scenery, people do not seem to care whether they are obstructing the views or disrespecting the needs of others.
People are so focused about conversations and issues online that they forget to enjoy the real world around them.
If you feel the need to take a selfie every time you have a new experience, you are missing out on the big picture.
You are so worried about getting the perfect photo to capture the moment that you ignore the moment itself.
Then, the craziness of selfies could lead to death.
According to Mohn, January 2017, a British newspaper reported that an eighteen years old fell to his death in Moscow as he tries to take a selfie from Europe’s tallest building (Mohn, 2020).
In another report released in November 2017, they found that worldwide 127 people died and many have been injured in a 29 month span from March 2014 through September 2016 while trying to take photos of themselves at dangerous or exotic locations.
There are several ways you can do to control your selfie habit.
Firstly, you need to take a step behind the camera and capture memories without you front and center.
This is not a meaning for you to stop taking selfies altogether. If you still want to snap a photo in a big life event, go for it. However, if you are struggling with low self-esteem, depression, social media addiction and other issues, it is better for you to take a break from the selfie world.
As you start to feel better about yourself, you will be able to enjoy those special moments even more.
It is fantastic to feel confident in photos, but if you start emphasizing your appearance over other qualities, you risk becoming overly superficial.
We need to balance valuing looking good online with involvement in intelligent content, world events, science and technology developments and concern for others in our social sciences.
As a result, we will have a real definition of beauty.
Freeing yourself from worrying about how others see you can be an excellent thing for your attitude.
We need to control our own mood and perceptions.
We should not be too concerned with how others comment or react to our life and routines.
Balanced on what we post, or taking a short break from selfies can do wonders putting you back in control of attitude, confidence and mood.
Each of us is truly unique, no one should let other’s sarcasm or negativity affect how you see your personality and personal.
What will happen to our world in the future if you don’t control your craziness of selfie?
First, with uncontrolled selfies habits, all of us will never feel enough with what we have.
People will keep racing among themselves on who will have the most unique or stylish or even dangerous selfie style.
There will be more ‘crazy’ selfie posted in the social media.
This will eventually lead to many unhealthy culture of livings.
Life will be based on social media only.
There will be very little or no more real life social interaction as every single person care only about their selfies postings.
Everyone is busy with their phones just for memorable selfies, but nobody is experiencing the real moment of life.
What will happen to our world in the future if you control your craziness of selfie?
We will be more in the moment.
Growing as a person and cultivating a healthy self-image is separate from the attention we get from others.
The meaningful moment of life can be experienced by us and we will appreciate it more.
We will be less offended by negativity.
CONCLUSION
As a conclusion, controlling our craziness of selfies will give benefits for us.
We can increase our self-esteem and have a better mental health if we control our craziness of selfies.
Our life will be happier when we take less selfies.
In order to achieve this, we need to increase our awareness this and let’s not making selfies as a habit.
So, what are you waiting for? Be with me, put your phone down and enjoy every inch of your life journey and make it a memorable moment.
REFERENCES
Diefenbach, Sarah, Christoforakos, & Lara. (2017, January 3). The Selfie Paradox: Nobody Seems to Like Them Yet Everyone Has Reasons to Take Them. An Exploration of Psychological Functions of Selfies in Self-Presentation. Retrieved May 1, 2020, from https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2017.00007/full
Mohn, T. (2017, February 1). Death By Selfie: Serious Incidents, Including Injury And Death, Are On The Rise. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/tanyamohn/2017/01/31/death-by-selfie-serious-incidents-including-injury-and-death-are-on-the-rise/#2b9a526b8377
Prince, A. (2014, November 7). When You Stop Posting Selfies, These 10 Things Will Happen. Retrieved May 1, 2020, from https://www.lifehack.org/articles/communication/when-you-stop-posting-selfies-these-10-things-will-happen.html
R.Tan, A.Lai, R.Aravinthan (2018, June 26). Selfie lovers have mental issues. The Star. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com.my/news/nation/2018/06/26/selfie-lovers-have-mental-issues-they-are-lonely-and-lack-love-says-expert
Troy, P. O. (2017, July 14). Do Selfies Hurt Your Self-Esteem? Michigan Self-Esteem Counseling. Retrieved May 1, 2020, from https://perspectivesoftroy.com/selfies-hurting-self-esteem/