What Selfie Sticks Really Tell Us About Ourselves Summary

Everyone from grandmas to toddlers is taking selfies it has rapidly managed to make its way into mainstream culture. In the article “What Selfie Sticks Really Tell Us About Ourselves” by Kate Murphy, she claims that selfies have many negative effects such as endangering individuals, encouraging negative personality traits and self esteem issues.
Murphy talks about the dangers of posting selfies online. She reports that as facial recognition software continues to improve criminals and government agencies are able to recognize selfie takers. The chances of being recognized on the street are more likely if numerous selfies are posted online. Additionally Jennifer Lynch, a senior staff attorney for the electronic frontier foundation says, “You can change your name and Social Security number but you can’t change your face”. Posting pictures online is dangerous because anyone can easily be identified by looking at pictures online. In addition, Murphy says that after a picture is posted online, anyone is able to interpret the picture as they please. They can write a discourteous comment or simply ignore the picture. Not only is the viewer allowed to comment whatever they want the owner cannot control what happens to the …show more content…
That does not always mean that they are self-obsessed but they have a desire for self-gratification. Selfie takers are also insecure: however, this is concealed by their confidence. They post pictures because of underlying insecurities, the likes they receive compensated as validation. In the same way a higher number of likes on a picture will make the selfie taker feel confident, however this can lead to becoming addicted to the number of likes they receive on a selfie. Rameet Chawla, an app developer, comments on this topic by saying that likes are similar to an addictive drug, once you try it you want more. Selfie takers often use apps to hide their