THE EGOCENTRISM MADE SELFIE

MIRROR, MIRROR .....

THE EGOCENTRISM MADE SELFIE

If I had to summarize the story of the famous story The Brothers Grimm, Snow White, I would summarize it with a single word, self-centeredness, because it was the exacerbated love of self that led the queen to turn her into a being so evil as to try to kill the poor young woman with red lips.

Well now that social networks are in vogue, the egocentrism of the same evil queen of Snow White, emerges with a phenomenon known as the selfie, and that is no wonder, full is the Internet of images and photographs of people from the camera of a cell phone become almost movie stars.

That mirror hung on the wall that the queen asked incessantly, about whether it was the most beautiful in the kingdom, to reassure her self-esteem, is in my concept the so-called selfie phenomenon.

Of course, the mirror that used to respond: “ You, my queen, are fair; it is true ” currently responds through Facebook with a simple I like it or a I love it, but its purpose is of course, to make us feel good, it's as if the more likes that image has, the more beautiful I can be feel.

The selfie is a self-portrait made with a camera, usually a digital camera or a mobile phone; It is a practice very associated with social networks, since it is common to upload this type of self-portraits to such platforms, then I could almost assure that it is the new mirror of Snow White.

The selfie has a deep psychological background, and this article, despite being a social criticism, contains per se a sincere concern that transcends and that must be approached with good sense and seriousness.

Our self-esteem can not be subordinated to a simple image, our inner self can not depend on others and this is where we enter into the real problem, the reaffirmation of ourselves through the mirror, that is, through the approval of others .

What is John looking for with uploading a selfie on networks celebrating his 40th birthday, on a yacht in the Caribbean Sea, with women and tequila, which is what he intends to demonstrate? Maybe he lives well? What is successful and happy? Or seeks to demonstrate to others, which by itself is not capable of believing.

Great Celebrities of the cinema like Marilyn Monroe; how many some, constantly asked her friends and co-workers, if she was beautiful and intelligent, something hard to believe for one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood history, difficult to believe that she needed the approval of others to feel safe .

This is where I will stop, which I consider the true core of the issue, the need for approval from others, auscultated with a huge lack of self-esteem, that we need to publish our happiness to feel happy, happiness is lived, not shown .

If one is accustomed to living well, that is to say in the midst of luxury, travel and all kinds of comforts, I do not think that you need to publish something so common for social networks in your social environment, on the contrary who has had all kinds of shortcomings When you buy your first car, it is safest to take the photo and upload it on the internet, so that everyone knows how well you are doing in life.

I have noticed that people who saturate the social networks of selfies, photos and images, typical of their lives even in their pajamas, have serious problems of acceptance, are quite insecure and constantly change moods, while those who publish little seem like have a more firm and stable personality, although it is not a general rule.

Instagram has become the ideal space to compensate for our lack of self-esteem and need for approval, if you are ugly, the application erases scars, wrinkles and blemishes, makes you look beautiful, because as I repeat the slogan is to show the other than you are the maximum, anqué inside take you the devil.

There is a lot of falsehood in social networks, people publish a lot of information that is not true, because what interests is to sell an image the best, perfect, although incompatible with reality, it is a kind of personal marketing where if you do not show You sell, so it's best to enter this fashion.

Now if I am going to give in the cardinal point of the matter, those who are addicted to the self-portrait, the selfies, according to mental health experts are people with a personality disorder called egocentrism, this implies the concern for oneself and about how it is perceived for others. The narcissist is interested in the satisfaction of his vanity and the admiration of his own physical and intellectual attributes.

Within the psychological effects of the abuse of social networks, on Facebook are:

- Facebook users tend to have more narcissistic or insecure personalities

- People with higher scores in narcissism were those who made frequent updates of the states, published photos of themselves and used phrases or slogans to self-talk

- A 2012 poll of matrimonial lawyers shows that Facebook had been involved in ⅓ of all divorce applications the previous year.

What the phenomenon of selfies and narcissism has done is to focus on the image. He has put in hand a mechanism that perhaps many of us wanted to have before, but there was no means.

You can make this a virtuous circle, enhancing the positive or attractive image; or a vicious circle by highlighting a negative image; without counting on people who do not put a true image of themselves. Of course, not all are critical of this high narcissism, since the "like" or "follow" of the uploaded image can cause an increase in self-esteem that, perhaps, before was on the floor. It is already known that beautiful words are never far away.

When making these self-portraits, the selfies tend to feel superior to others but also, often irritate quickly and are not able to accept criticism, and love to be photographed with an electronic tool.

Now you know, before posting your photos on large networks like Facebook, it would be convenient to think why do you do it? Do you consider yourself a selfie? Do you need any kind of help?

Written by

Omar Colmenares Trujillo