The bizarre obsession with selfies

Today, life without a camera is a scary thought! We thrive on indiscretion. Everyone has this uncontrollable urge to show off every aspect of their lives and the mission is to portray how fabulous their existence is.

Your day can’t be a success if you didn’t get that perfect selfie to capture your achievement. MP Shashi Tharoor realised how serious the business of clicking the perfect photo was, when the bride at a wedding he recently attended was busy taking a selfie with not her groom but the celebrity present —Shashi Tharoor!

“Attending weddings is part of a day’s work for an MP. But the bride taking a selfie was a new experience for me!” Tharoor tweeted.

Today, can’t imagine life without a camera! People have this urge to show off every aspect of their lives and how “happening” they are.

The two recent Ambani weddings were the shaadis to be seen at and guests were making sure the whole world knew they were invited.

The wedding was also the perfect opportunity to tag the famous designers whose clothes you were wearing, show off your rocks and garner a few hundred likes and followers in the process. The Internet is the new town square, according to Bill Gates. This is where you need to make your fantastic presence felt to make a mark in society. The rules of socialising have changed too. UK based society magazine Tatler calls social media the new social climbing. It points out the fact that our virtual lives have become as meaningful as the real ones. Even at a party, people are not really bothered with conversations. They are only interested in positioning themselves in the same photo frame with either celebs or popular people and clicking a selfie with a background that signifies you are somewhere super cool like Shah Rukh Khan’s house for drinks.

Dr Shashi Tharoor, who attended a wedding recently was baffled when the bride asked him for a selfie. The MP shared the photo on Twitter and captioned it, “Attending weddings is part of a day’s work for an MP. But the bride taking a selfie was a new experience for me!”

Something as trivial as your mode of travel is also very important. A picture of your feet up in first class is a must. Snapping what you are wearing is crucial too because you want the designer or the brand to like your picture and repost it on their official account.

The friends worth having are not the ones you see every day, but the cool ones like the odd billionaire, actor, politician or designer who follow you, like and comment on your Insta account. These are the friends who can transform your real life into a success story by acknowledging your existence online. If you have a cool online following, life is a success because brands, other cool people and businesses want to be associated with you and this means the chance to make big money.

It’s a compulsion
“While there’s nothing wrong in taking photographs, it’s always nice to look back at them and reminisce, the problem arises when people are doing things, travelling to places, eating at the latest ‘it’ cafe, even working out — just so they can photograph it and share it on social media,” says popular designer Rimzim Dadu.

Cricketer Hardik Pandya shared some photos from the Ambani wedding and tagged the designer whose outfit he wore for the event

Agreeing with Rimzim, Bengaluru based clinical psychologist Priyanka M.B. says, “The world of technology and social media is seeping so much into our lives that we sometimes tend to misrepresent ourselves on media by editing and filtering our reality. This type of constant validation from others is leading to the need for acceptance, inability to take criticism or rejection and therefore increasing the need to mask oneself. This lowers one’s confidence levels.”

Writer Srilata Srikant points out how social media enables an obsession with the way we look, rather than who we are. “Selfies give us a greater sense of control on how others perceive us online. That is definitely a major appeal. People often take multiple shots to achieve what they consider the ‘perfect’ look or photo to be uploaded on social media. You create a false reality of who you are,” says Srilata.

The zillionaires avoid Insta
And while a fab picture is worth taking, the really cool ones like the British Royal Family, or the Russian premier Putin or, according to Tatler magazine, all those Silicon Valley zillionaires who got us addicted to Instagram in the first place, are not on Instagram, and neither are their families.

Being inaccessible and having the whole world guessing what you are up to is amazing too. You really don’t want every random person to ping you from the comfort of their bed, wave across Facebook, give you their irrelevant advice by commenting on your hair or clothes on Insta and follow your every move. Experts warn that thieves can get way too familiar with your background too (the art and silver in your living room, for example).