Imagine, if you will, a variety of forms of self-help. You’re probably thinking of books, meditation or maybe therapy. While those are all very valuable ways to boost self-esteem, I am willing to bet not one of you thought the word “selfie.”
The Oxford English Dictionary declared that its word of the year for 2013 was “selfie.” You can’t scroll down two inches on your Instagram feed without seeing at least one. They’re everywhere – and while they may clog up your newsfeed on Facebook, they serve a very real purpose in boosting self-esteem that you may not realize.
I, for one, love taking selfies, and I love seeing my friends’ selfies. Does your hair look particularly awesome today? Great, find the angle that best showcases it and snap away on your iPhone. There should be no shame in something that helps restore self-esteem when mainstream media and every single magazine cover take it away.
Negative body image is something that has plagued our society for far too long, and it’s especially bad among the younger female set. Every ad with a Photoshopped, overly thin model within the pages of US Weekly or People is asserting that you are not normal, that you are not beautiful, that you are not worthy. Where society simultaneously takes away autonomy and beats the idea of not being enough into young people, selfies do the opposite. They give you a control of how you are seen by others that is rare and, in my opinion, completely worthwhile.
It’s easy to deem selfie culture as one of self-indulgence and arrogance, but I think it’s far more than that. Selfies can help people move past “I’m not good enough,” and that alone is invaluable to our society. While one’s self-esteem should not be 100 percent dependent on Instagram “likes” and the attention one gets from a selfie, it’s a good place to start being ok with your appearance. We do need to take grander steps to make us ok with ourselves, but as of right now, selfies are one of our best bets.
I’ll close with a recent quote regarding the subject from Ezra Koenig, one of my favorite people and lead singer of Vampire Weekend: “I could Google image search ‘the sky’ and I would probably see beautiful images to knock my socks off. But I can’t Google, you know, ‘What does my friend look like today?’ For you to be able to take a picture of yourself that you feel good enough about to share with the world – I think that’s a great thing.”
Beth Lindly is a junior majoring in journalism. Her column runs biweekly.
