Read the passage below and check your comprehension by answering the following questions. Then “submit” your work.
Sharing “selfies” (photos of yourself using the camera on your mobile phone) is a widespread phenomenon on social media. But isn’t sending people pictures that we have taken of ourselves a bit narcissistic? Research suggests that selfies can actually be a “visual conversation” and serve as an important part of the language of relationships (Katz & Crocker, 2015). Indeed, selfie-takers report that one of the most prominent uses of their selfies is to update friends and family about their lives. From in-depth interviews with a number of young selfie-takers, researchers found that although selfies are typically designed to look spontaneous, they are often composed with thoughtfulness and deliberation (Katz & Crocker, 2015). Selfie-sharers give consideration to the platform (disappearing images on Snapchat versus lasting memories on Instagram) as well as to how the photo might come across to the people receiving it. They are aware of the potential for appearing vain, and so there must be a careful balance between trying to look good while not trying to look self-absorbed. The most valued selfies tend to be ones that tell a story about someone’s life events and contexts rather than just emphasize the person’s own face or body.
The sharing of selfies is not unique to the United States. A survey of American, British, and Chinese respondents revealed that almost all of them reported having shared a selfie at some point (Katz & Crocker, 2015). The few differences found were the frequency of selfies shared, with Americans doing so more often than the other two samples. Many in the American sample reported sharing upwards of twenty selfies in one day!
Although selfie-takers often give thought to how they present themselves, they may also be misleading themselves about how successful they are. Selfie-takers have been found to overestimate the positive nature of their own self-photos (Jacobs, 2016). In fact, they actually believe they appear more attractive in their own selfies than in photos taken of them by other people! One recent study found that when asking an external group of people to rate other people’s selfies, the photos did not appear nearly as attractive and likable as the people themselves thought (Re, Wang, He, & Rule, 2016). Perhaps there is an aspect of narcissism to our selfies after all.