You could chalk this post up to jealousy. I suck at taking selfies. I also don’t have the time nor interest in perfecting the art of the selfie. (I can barely look presentable in pictures that other people take of me, let alone a picture I take of myself.) Some people rock the selfie and that’s cool. I have some Facebook friends that never cease to amaze me in how fantastic they look in pic after pic. HOWEVER, there are times and PLACES that selfies are unnecessary and outright ridiculous. My most recent unfortunate, “nails on the chalkboard” discovery….Travel Selfies. WTF people! No one wants to see photos of you right after you pass airport security, after buying stuff in Duty Free (with shopping bags in hand, of course), waiting for the plane, after the plane took off, eating your crappy airplane MEAL (yes, there were people on my last trip taking selfies of them and their food…and not just one, but 8 or 9 selfies), and after picking up your bags at baggage claim!!!
“Yea! I made it and so did my bags! This is the best vacation ever! I must document this and send it to 600 of my closest friends!”
(Ok, I do admit that on some airlines….this could be a photo worthy event)
In addition to blaming the idiots taking these ridiculous pictures (and praying to all that is good in the world that they do not feel obligated to share them with ½ the world), I blame digital photography. Back in the “good ole’days” you had to PAY to look at your pictures, which, while lacking actual scientific backing for this claim, I believe had to drastically reduce the number of stupid shots of stupid stuff that people took…including selfies!!! With digital photography, you can take and share with a click of a button, no payment required. Thus, instead of boring all your friends with pictures of your vacation when they come to your house (admit it, back in the day we (or your parents) all did this!), you can beat them over the head with minute by minute shots of your vacation….as you relive it yourself a second afterwards instead of real-time because you are too busy analyzing and posting ever frickin’photo from the horribly mundane parts that make people have to choose between committing social media suicide and hiding your photo-happy ass to the beautiful ones that you really do want to remember in the future.
Seriously…who will ever review their selfie after passing airport security and think,
“What an amazing experience! I can’t believe I actually passed Airport Security!?! It was soooo magical!”
Seriously folks, think before you shoot! To help you figure out what is and is not an appropriate time to take a selfie...I offer you the following guideline:
3E Selfie Guidelines: If you wouldn’t be able ask a 3rd party to take your picture (and verbalize a rational justification of said picture request), you probably should NOT be taking the f#*@ing photo! Why? Because it’s RIDICULOUS!!!
