Dear Crabby,
Every time I turn around, everyone from teens to senior citizens are taking ‘selfies’ with their smartphones. When did we become so obsessed with documenting our lives like this?
Thanks, Nancy Narcissist
Dear Nancy Narcissist,
Oh, you’ve noticed that too, eh? Just the other day some whippersnapper nearly knocked me off my feet because she was backing up (not paying attention, of course) all while trying to get just the right angle for her selfie! She didn’t even apologize. In fact I’m pretty sure I heard her mumble something about me ruining her shot!
I get wanting to take a picture while you’re vacation; I’m missing from half the family vacation photos because I was usually the person taking the picture. But to constantly document every single aspect of your life? C’mon. That’s just unnecessary and ridiculous. And don’t even get me started on those duck faces. You know what I’m talking about, where someone does an over-exaggerated pout for the camera because it’s supposed to make him or her look ‘sexy.’ Personally, I think all it does is make it look like their lips got stuck in a Hoover vacuum! My grandkids helped me get on something called Wikipedia where I was surprised to find out that the term ‘selfie’ was first used back in 2002 by someone in Australia after a drunken night celebrating a friend’s 21st birthday. What a shocker… not! By 2012, Time magazine said ‘selfie’ was one of the ‘top 10 buzzwords’ of the year. And the obsession seems to have grown rapidly since then. In fact, I’m told there was even a television show called Selfie that’s already been cancelled. Now there’s another shocker. And if that’s not enough to make your eyes roll, reality ‘star’ Kim Kardashian is coming out with a book dedicated to her famous selfies. Oh, and it’s called Selfish. Ha! Talk about truth in advertising.
I guess people just want others to notice them and validate their existence by liking all the pictures they post, which is a shame. They should be focusing on creating memories with their family and friends instead of working hard to prove they were having a good time. As for me, I’ll continue taking pictures the old fashioned way: with everyone else in them, but me.
Say cheese!
Dear Crabby
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