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The selfie phenomenon is of keen interest not only among smartphone manufacturers and marketers. Psychologists, sociologists and philosophers are already arguing about the reasons for our passion to capture ourselves and share these images on social networks. Here is what the philosopher Kirill Martynov thinks about this.
1. Narcissism or the desire to see faces?
“On the one hand, selfie culture has been described as a manifestation of morbid narcissism, presumably characteristic of the modern era, which peaked with the advent of Facebook and smartphones. On the other hand, they say that selfies are a form of realization of the human need to see and recognize faces, which in the era of mass media was appropriated by the “stars”.
2. Great democratizer
“For most of human history, the media only replicated the faces of the elite – rulers, then famous actors, writers and scientists, finally stars. Since the Middle Ages and up to the era of glossy magazines, this rule has remained unchanged. The selfie became a great democratizer, emancipating countless human faces that were no longer held back by class, stars, professional editors, or lack of mass public interest or professional skills. The life of the stars was separated from us by an abyss: they were on the other side of the screens, we were on this one. Now each of us is his own star.
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3.Continuation of the classic self-portrait
“One of Van Gogh’s self-portraits, made in 1889, is very reminiscent of modern selfies: in the frame, the upper part of the artist’s figure and his left hand holding a palette of paints. In 1935, Escher created the lithograph “Hand with a Reflecting Ball” – a self-portrait in which the artist holds a mirror ball in his left hand, where the hand, the room and the author are reflected. Because of his characteristic angle and gesture, Escher can rightfully be considered one of the pioneers of the “analogue” selfie culture that existed before the advent of webcams and smartphones. The role of the most legendary “forefather” is claimed by Parmigianino, who in 1524 wrote “Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror”, on which the artist’s hand is larger than his head. Apparently, the first advent of the European selfie happened in Germany on the eve of World War II. Nazi magazines of the time made cartoons of the habit of ordinary Germans taking pictures of themselves at every opportunity. Such photographs most often did not have artistic value, so before the invention of social networks, they remained a purely private matter.
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4.Image creation tool
“We don’t just take a picture of ourselves, we produce an image of a ‘normal man’, ‘normal woman’, ‘good friend’, ‘fun guy’, ‘tourist’, ‘family man’ and so on. I mechanically remove this image from myself and transfer it to the space of social networks, where I will be treated accordingly. We ourselves make ourselves a visual object that is sold as a commodity in the media capital market. If you don’t do this, it already raises suspicions today: “Why is your face not on social networks?” They say that TV presenter Tina Kandelaki takes selfies every day on the way to work, in the elevator. In terms of technology, this can be seen as a social media presence tactic, part of a personal brand. Tina Kandelaki, in addition to everything that we can learn about her, is the same person whose selfie we can find every morning on our Instagram. It takes a lot of discipline to take a selfie in the elevator every morning. You need to get into the elevator every morning, not get sick, not lie in bed, look good. This is how new standards of professionalism for a media star are formed – they differ from other people in their increased concentration on their image, which everyone can challenge.
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5.Incentive for plastic surgery
“Social media, video chats and selfies have contributed to the growth of interest in plastic surgery. Christopher Maloney of the Institute of Plastic Surgery in Arizona talks about the growing number of patients who are willing to undergo surgery for the perfect picture. A study conducted by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in 2013 found that one in three cases, patients seek the help of plastic surgeons to improve their appearance on social networks. In particular, due to social media, plastic surgery is more often used by young people: the same study notes that more than 60% of surgeons in recent years have become more likely to see among their patients younger than 30 years old.
6.Proof of authenticity of existence
“At the same time a Polaroid snapshot, a family album for a single person and a digital signature that manifests our presence, the selfie performs a psychotherapeutic function, daily proving the stability of self-representation and identity of a neurotic inhabitant of social networks. All friends will be ostracized, all likes will be forgotten, all Facebook status will be corporate property, but selfies will stand and demonstrate to fleeting witnesses of our existence that it was genuine. Selfies have equated us with the star, unleashed our creativity, given us a new visual language and way of describing ourselves, and objectified us. Everyone today exists to become a selfie and end up in one of them.”
For more details, see the article by K. Martynov “Family Album for a Loner”, Logos, 2014, No. 4 (100).