Selfies now more definitive than the Self, a world without them seems bleak

If there ever were a doubt that public memory is short, the deluge of comments on social media ranging from farcical to philosophical at the idea of a ‘world without selfies’ dispels it. That camera-phones are a very recent invention indeed in the millennial timespan of recorded history and forward facing ones even more so, has clearly been forgotten already. Little wonder then that there has been an outpouring of horror at this Doomsday scenario even from those whose rise to fame in the past five years has not depended on this self-capturing feature. Selfies have become more definitive than the Self; so any world without them would naturally seem bleak. Add to that the fact that social media posts with face photos are more prone to ‘likes’ and comments, the indispensability of the selfie becomes self-evident.

The existential question about selfies has also highlighted the liberating – some may call it isolating – aspect of phone cameras, as the exercise of capturing a personal moment for posterity is now obviously individualistic. So much so that many are revolted by the thought of having to request ‘perfect strangers’ to take their photos. And to think there was a time when cameras were left to experienced professionals to operate and subjects sat in interminable frozen formality to be immortalized on bromides.