Reading Response 1

1) What is a selfie?
A selfie, even in its most insignificant form, is a reflection of the person who posted it. Physically, a selfie is an actual reflection of someone, considering that it literally is a photograph of a person. On a deeper level, a selfie fills the role of both an object and a practice/gesture, according to Baym and Senft's journal piece "What Does the Selfie Say?" As an object, its primary purpose is to create a moment or sense of sharing: sharing a connection between the selfie-taker and the selfie, a mood, the purpose of the picture, and so forth. As a practice, the selfie serves as a vessel for virtual social interactions. In this form, the selfie could be used to carry a message, initiate a conversation, participate in a trend, etc. It can also be used to reflect the photographer, giving the chance for the audience to interpret the various thoughts, feelings, morals, or whatever else the selfie-taker may be trying to convey. The selfie can also be viewed as (almost) unconscious archival recordings of the world around us, or as Vulture's "At Arm's Length" describes it, the "photography of modern life." Similar to how Renaissance paintings depict daily lives back in the 15th century, the selfies we take today may serve the same historical purpose in a few centuries.


2) Moral Panics
Moral panic is the phenomenon where a certain issue or concern is overly exaggerated by the media, creating unnecessary fear at the expense of scapegoats. These scapegoats more often than not are either younger generations or members of marginalized communities, including women and minority groups. The panic has generally been shown to be the result of changes to societal expectations and stereotypes, which older generations typically avoid deviating from. The authors give multiple examples of this being the case, including the connection between breastfeeding selfies and the conventional idea of motherhood. Even with the growing acceptance of these images, women of color and members of the LGBT community still tend to be confronted more than white women sharing the exact same pictures. Adults and the media have the tendency to criticize selfies taken by teenagers, describing them as a representation of the supposedly dangerous "selfie culture" that epitomizes narcissism. However, they often overlook the teenagers who use selfies as a platform to either spread awareness, empower themselves and others, and connect to peers. I understand both sides of the narcissism debate, as I've seen friends and acquaintances take selfies both in vain and in a more purposeful manner, although I've seen much more of the latter in my experience.

3) How do the ways in which these two articles evaluate selfies correlate with your own ideas about selfies?
Giving that I grew up in the digital age, I felt like I had a decent understanding of the selfie and its impacts on society. These articles were good at introducing new perspectives that I hadn't necessarily thought about before, including the different levels that selfies operate on. I personally have no issue with selfies. If someone chooses to spend the majority of their time taking pictures of themselves, so be it. Other people's actions have no effect on my personal life. Personally, I don't enjoy taking selfies of myself. In fact, the only selfies that I've ever taken are ones that I've sent to friends on Snapchat, ones typically feature me with funny or embarrassing expressions on my face. Do they reflect who I am now? I'm actually not sure how to answer this question. I'd like to think that they do, considering that they're mainly quick, mindless snapshots of whatever I was feeling like at the moment. I'd also like to think that I'll feel the same way about them in the future, but only time will tell. Do you think the selfie will continue? Yes. Barring all of the negative discourse around it, the selfie serves as a great form of self-expression and communication, which will allow the practice of selfie-taking to continue for many generations to come.

4) Have you been following celebrities or entertainers on social media during the pandemic?
As a result of being locked up in my house with not much else to do other than schoolwork, I've found that I've been on social media much more than I was before the pandemic. I've chosen to keep up with the content of a select group of celebrities and entertainers, each for a variety of reasons. Some of these celebrities provide comic relief, which is a necessity at this point, while some of them choose to hold free concerts through their platforms, which I find extremely generous during these times (especially considering they may be losing money as a result of not being able to perform). One central theme of the celebrities I choose to follow is that they have shown that they are human and are struggling like the rest of us during these troubling times. Unfortunately, I've also noticed a good handful of celebrities who have chosen to either ignore the restrictions put in place or to show their ignorance, just as billionaire David Geffen and former star Vanessa Hudgens have done.